Adolphe-Marie Beaufrère (1876-1960)

A Douelan, etching, 1923, signed in pencil and numbered (21/50) [also initials and date in the plate]. Reference: Morane 23-07, BN Laran 175. Second state (of 2). In very good condition, printer’s crease bottom margin not near image. With the Sagot Editions, Paris stamp (Lugt 2254). 6 1/4 x 7 3/4, the sheet 8 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches.

A fine impression, with tone, on a blue/green cream laid paper.

The figures on the boat towards the right were added in the second state. The road pictured is along the river on the way to the port of Douelan.

Adolphe Beaufrere (1876-1960), La Vache Noire, Le Pouldu (The Black Cow. Le Pouldu), soft ground etching, 1910, unsigned.  Reference: Morane 10-23, only state. In very good condition, trimmed about 1/8-1/4 inch outside of the platemark, 7 x 8 1/8 inches.

Printed in black on a laid paper, with the watermark Original Hindostan Mill, with the letters and crest.

Provenance: acquired directly from Jean-Noel Beaufrere, the artist’s son.

A fine proof impression of this very rare composition. Morane notes that only 1 or 2 proofs of Le Vache Noire was pulled.

It appears that at this time Beaufrere was experimenting with a variation on a soft ground etching technique, perhap just brushing or dabbing acid on the plate, and then printing the plate.

Beaufrere was among the many artists who worked on the French Le Pouldu coast, others included Gauguin, Emile Bernard, and Paul Seurisier.

Detail

]]> http://harrisschrank.com/la-vache-noire-le-pouldu.htm/feed 0 http://harrisschrank.com/lavoir-de-kervino.htm http://harrisschrank.com/lavoir-de-kervino.htm#comments Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:49:34 +0000 Harris Schrank http://harrisschrank.com/?p=2359 Adolphe Beaufrere (1876-1960), Lavoir de Kervino, 1908, etching, with the Beaufrere red estate stamp lower left recto [also signed and dated in the plate lower right]. References: Morane 08-02, Laran 35.  Printed in a dark brown ink, on a thin wove Japan paper. In very good condition, unobtrusive water stain lower left, crease lower right corner, with margins, 9 1/2 x 12, the sheet 10 1/4 x 13 1/4 inches. Provenance: acquired directly from Jean-Noel Beaufrere, the artist’s son. A fine impression of this very rare print. This impression is probably a first state working proof, before some foliage was [...]]]>

Adolphe Beaufrere (1876-1960), Lavoir de Kervino, 1908, etching, with the Beaufrere red estate stamp lower left recto [also signed and dated in the plate lower right]. References: Morane 08-02, Laran 35.  Printed in a dark brown ink, on a thin wove Japan paper. In very good condition, unobtrusive water stain lower left, crease lower right corner, with margins, 9 1/2 x 12, the sheet 10 1/4 x 13 1/4 inches.

Provenance: acquired directly from Jean-Noel Beaufrere, the artist’s son.

A fine impression of this very rare print.

This impression is probably a first state working proof, before some foliage was added lower right, shading lines lower left, and clouds in the sky (as illustrated in Morane).  Morane notes that there were only 6 proofs of the state he illustrated (presumably the second state); then the plate was cut down radically to about one-third of its width, leaving only a strange looking vertical print of the trees and  lavoir (where a woman appears to be washing her feet); then cut a bit more for a small edition of 10.

Beaufrere was born at Quimperle, in Brittany, and though he traveled widely he re-connected with this area throughout his life. As a teenager he decided that he wanted to become an artist and he traveled to Paris where, shortly after his arrival, he encountered the eminent Gustave Moreau, who took him on as a student. Moreau encouraged him to study old master prints, especially the prints of Rembrandt and Durer, which were available in the Cabinet des Estampes in Paris – this was to be critical in his development. He was also influenced by the stirrings of modernism in Paris at the time, as well as the Japanese woodcut tradition and the French frenzy with Japonisme.

Beaufrere began printmaking near the end of his formal training; he made a number of woodcuts, but soon focused more on etching and engraving, as well as painting (curiously, one of his printmaking teachers at that time was the Canadian etcher Donald Shaw MacLaughlan). He began showing his prints, with some success, but after his marriage in 1905 his new wife convinced him to move out of Paris and back to Brittany, a move having a mixed effect on his career – contacts with other artists became fewer, but he did maintain gallery relationships, and the French countryside and it’s inhabitants would provide a continuing source of inspiration – as illustrated in Lavoir de Kervino.

Adolphe-Marie Beaufrere (1876-1960), Aux Approches de Madrid (also Aux Abords de la Ville), drypoint, 1927, signed and numbered (14/55), from the edition of 55, with the blindstamp of Sagot, publisher (Lugt 2254). Reference: Morane 27-19. In good condition, on very thin cream Japan paper, 6 1/2 x 9, the sheet 8 3/8 x 11 1/4 inches, archival matting.

A fine impression, with the drypoint burr extremely rich and effective (due in part to the use of a Japan paper, which tends to diffuse the ink surrounding the drypoint lines).

Beaufrere was born at Quimperle, in Brittany, and though he traveled widely he re-connected with this area throughout his life. As a teenager he decided that he wanted to become an artist and he traveled to Paris where, shortly after his arrival, he encountered the eminent Gustave Moreau, who took him on as a student. Moreau encouraged him to study old master prints, especially the prints of Rembrandt and Durer, which were available in the Cabinet des Estampes in Paris – this was to be critical in his development.

Beaufrere began printmaking in about 1904, with some woodcuts, but soon got into etching and engraving. Curiously, one of his colleague/teachers at the time was the Canadian etcher Donald Shaw MacLaughlan. He began showing his prints, with some success, but after his marriage in 1905, and with the urging of his new wife, moved out of Paris and back to Brittany.  This move had a mixed effect on his career – contacts with other artists became fewer, but he did maintain gallery relationships, and the French countryside and it’s inhabitants would provide a continuing source of inspiration.

During the Great War Beaufrere served in the infantry, and had few opportunities to make art. But he did study a volume of Rembrandt’s prints, and wrote later that Rembrandt was his master, that there could be no better teacher of etching.  Rembrandt’s continuing influence is evident in works such as Aux Approches de Madrid, particularly the use of drypoint against Japan paper, and the composition is remindful of a number of Rembrandt works such as Three Gabled Cottages (Bartsch 217).

After the War Beaufrere experienced great success, both in France and the US. He traveled a bit, in France (and here, in Spain), and received many awards (including  Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1939, nominated by his friend Jean-Emile Laboureur). And throughout his life, despite various maladies including eye problems in the ’40′s and later, he continued to make prints as well as paintings and watercolors.

Adolphe Beaufrere (1876-1960), Femmes au Tub (Women Bathing), c. 1902, colored woodcut, signed in pencil, also with the artist’s red monogram stamp. Reference: Morane B-1; Musee des Beaux Arts de Renne 1. On brown Japon paper. Printed in dark brown, orange, tan and light blue. 13 1/2 x 8 7/8 inches. Trimmed just outside of the borderline. Soft creases upper left and associated slight rubbing, 2 soft folds upper right corner, soft creases lower left, soft fold near left border, a few rubbed or lightly printed areas in image.

Provenance: acquired directly from Jean-Noel Beaufrere, the artist’s son.

A fine impression of this great rarity, Beaufrere’s first woodcut and arguably his greatest work in printmaking.

We know of no other impressions of Femmes au Tub appearing on the market in recent history; the impression in the Musee des Beaux Arts de Rennes is presumably the impression appearing in Morane’s catalog raisonne (it appears to have condition problems, including scattered ink markings and creases, far exceeding those of the present impression). Morane does not call for any proposed edition. One surmises that Beaufrere had problems printing this print which prevented him from making more than a few proofs, but aesthetically it was a great success.

Beaufrere was born at Quimperle, in Brittany, and though he traveled widely he re-connected with this area throughout his life. As a teenager he decided that he wanted to become an artist and he traveled to Paris where, shortly after his arrival, he encountered the eminent Gustave Moreau, who took him on as a student. Moreau encouraged him to study old master prints, especially the prints of Rembrandt and Durer, which were available in the Cabinet des Estampes in Paris – this was to be critical in his development. He was also influenced by the stirrings of modernism in Paris at the time, as well as the Japanese woodcut tradition and the French frenzy with Japonisme, of course evident in Femmes au Tub.

Beaufrere began printmaking near the end of his formal training, and Morane indicates that Femmes was made at this time, in 1902; he made a number of other woodcuts, but soon focused more on etching and engraving, as well as painting (curiously, one of his printmaking teachers at that time was the Canadian etcher Donald Shaw MacLaughlan). He began showing his prints, with some success, but after his marriage in 1905 his new wife convinced him to move out of Paris and back to Brittany, a move having a mixed effect on his career – contacts with other artists became fewer, but he did maintain gallery relationships, and the French countryside and it’s inhabitants would provide a continuing source of inspiration.