Effet de Soir dans Paris. Night-time in Paris. Also known as: La Parisienne by Henri Boutet, 1851-1919

Henri Boutet, 1851-1919
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Effet de Soir dans Paris. Night-time in Paris. Also known as: La Parisienne

Original drypoint in black ink. 1893. Signed in pencil. Numbered 3 in pencil by Boutet. From the edition of 100 impressions. Issued in the album: L'Estampe Originale, no 2, Paris 1893. With the blindstamp of L'Estampe Originale lower right. Rare.
Ref: Les Pointes-Sèches d'Henri Boutet, no 41. Stein and Karshan: L'Estampe Originale, no 10.

Brilliant rich and tonal impression with burr and hand-wiped ink tone. On pale beige tinted wove paper. Generally excellent condition; the paper with just a suggestion of even time toning. Full margins. Sheet: 23 3/8 x 16 1/4 ins. Plate: 21 x 12 ins (540x305mm).

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Effet de Soir dans Paris - Night-time in Paris is probably the single most famous work in Henri Boutet?s graphic oeuvre. The manner in which the plate is worked to capture the effects of light and atmosphere on a wet winter night, and the understanding of character and social situation which is expressed through the gesture and pose of the figure epitomises all the finest qualities of his art.

Although Effet de Soir was commissioned for the album L?Estampe Originale and printed in an edition of 100 examples have become extremely uncommon and virtually never come on the market. We were fortunate enough to locate an impression in 1998; that together with the example we have now found, are the first that we have seen anywhere for a great many years.

Boutet was amongst the most gifted of that group of French painters and printmakers who found their inspiration in the life of the cafes, the restaurants and the streets of Paris in the last years of the 19th century and who have come to be known as the ?artist-reporters?. He first came to public attention with his work for various illustrated magazines such as Paris-Croquis and Le Courrier Francais; he then founded publications like La Revue Artistique and by the turn of the century he had become a household name amongst the cognoscenti winning widespread critical acclaim and public popularity. His finest work dates from the period of the late 1890?s.