Theodore Casimir Roussel

Laburnums and Battersea.

1889-90

Kennedy catalog 36 state ii; Glasgow 45 state ii. Image: 4 7/8 x 7 3/4 (sheet 6 7/8 x 9 5/8).The Glasgow catalog records 32 known impressions. A scarce early etching -- there was no ...

Barcarolle. 1926. Etching. Carter 233. 14 7/8 x 8 3/8 (sheet 17 1/4 x 10 1/4). Edition 80, #xxv. Print Collector's Quarterly 24 (1938): 428; Eric Denker, Reflections & Undercurrents: Ernest Roth...

The Venetian Mast. 1879-80. Etching and drypoint. Kennedy catalog 195 state .vi; Glasgow catalog 219 state x/xii. 13 3/8 x 6 3/8. Glasgow records 53 impressions. A fine, atmospheric...

En plein soleil. (In the Sunlight). 1881. Etching and drypoint. Tissot 54, Béraldi 45, Wentworth 54. 7 13/16 x 11 1/2 (sheet 11 1/4 x 15). Edition about 100. Mat line and two hinge s...

The Gothic Spirit (also called A Gargoyle, A Gothic Spirit). 1922. Etching and stipple. Fletcher 120. 11 5/8 x 7 (sheet 15 1/4 x 11 1/4). Gargoyle Series #8. Edition 130. Illustrated...

The Helmsman. 1925. Etching. Hurst 130. 7 x 10 7/8 (sheet 11 x 5). Trial proof, apart from the edition of 75 An extremely rich impression printed cream wove paper. An exceptionally r...

A superb, richly-inked impression of this etching and drypoint, printed in dark brownish black on antique cream laid paper. Second state (of 3). Edition of approximately 30. Signed w...

A very good impression of this color drypoint and aquatint. Third state (of 3). Edition of 150. Signed and inscribed "No. 25" in pencil, lower right.

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), Le Pont de Pierre, a Rouen, etching and drypoint, 1887. Reference: Delteil 66, second state (of 2). Signed lower right in pencil, annotated lower left ...

Theodore Roussel (1847-1926), A Street in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, etching, soft ground etching, drypoint, 1912, signed in pencil on the tab and inscribed...

James Whistler (1834-1903), The Bridge, Santa Marta, 1879-80, etching with drypoint, printed in sepia on fine laid paper. Signed with the butterfly and inscribed imp on the tab (also with an exceedingly light butterfly lower right in the plate). Kennedy 204, probably eighth (final) state; Glasgow 201, probably state 9 (of 9) (cf. Margaret F. MacDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock, James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonné, University of Glasgow, 2011), Lochnan 199. Trimmed to the platemark by the artist, h: 11.8 x w: 7.9 in / h: 30 x w: 20.1 cm. A fine impression, printed with subtle tone. The bridge theme occurs repeatedly in Whistler’s vistas. It is also the main focus of more than one of the Venetian prints. While some bridges are seen from below, from where one would see it if approaching in a gondola (for example Ponte del Piovan, Kennedy 209), The Bridge depicts the scene from a high perspective, opening up the view into the far distance. The small boat approaching the arch in the foreground is again, as in the earlier Thames prints, a stock motif that is probably ultimately derived from the Japanese woodcuts of Hokusai and Hiroshige. The bridge here is the Ponte de le Terese over the Rio de l’Arzere in the Santa Marta quarter. The early biography of Whistler by Elizabeth and Joseph Pennell is essential for its “immense quantity of information” but also notorious for “the inherent hyperbole and misinformation” (Eric Denker, Annotated Bibliography, in Fine, p. 184). Still, it is worth quoting from the Pennels’ appraisal of The Bridge: “Simplicity of expression has never been carried further. Probably the finest plate, in its simplicity and directness, is The Bridge. Whistler now obtained the quality of richness by suggesting detail, and also by printing. In The Traghetto...

Theodore Roussel (1847-1926), The Gate, Chelsea; etching and drypoint, 1889-1890, signed on the tab and inscribed imp [also signed in the plate lowere right]. Reference: Hausberg 33, fourth state (of 4), from the total printing of about 43 impressions. In excellent condition, trimmed by the artist all around on the plate mark except for the tab, 8 1/8 x 6 1/2 inches. A fine impression, printed on a light cream wove paper with plate tone (wiped to brighten the gate and doorway area) and substantial burr in the drypoint work. According to Hausberg, “The gate and house behind it still stand today at No. 4 Cheyne Walk...