Le Soir, or La Glaneuse (The Night, The Gleaner)
Armand Seguin (1869-1903), Le Soir, or La Glaneuse (The Night, The Gleaner), : 1894, etching, roulette, aquatint, lavis; signed and numbered (No. 51). Published by L’Estampe Originale, Paris, September 1894, with its blindstamp lower right (Lugt 819). From the edition of 100. References: Field, Strauss and Wagstaff 68, Boyle/Turner S 22. In excellent condition, on a cream laid paper with a shield watermark, the full sheet (9 1/8 x 9 1/8, the sheet 24 x 16 1/2 inches), archival mounting.
A superb, fresh impression, printed in brown/black ink. This impression has a strong ink or plate tone where ink was left on the plate in the process of printing, but it was wiped relatively clean in the sky and moonlit area, giving the print a striking quality of contrasting light.
Seguin was a master printmaker. Le Soir has a textural layered feel to it, due his re-working of the plate in etching, aquatint, roulette and lavis. The mysterious shapes within the composition are revealed essentially through their different textural quality.
Armand Seguin was born in Brittany, and studied in Paris at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs, and then at the famed Academie Julian, where he became involved in the Nabi movement (Les Nabis [the Prophets] included Bonnard, Vuillard, Denis, Roussel and Serusier). Through Serusier, Seguin met, and became involved with Gauguin, and went to paint with him at Pont Aven. Seguin created very few paintings (about 20 are known) – he worked agonizingly slowly, and found the process of producing a painting difficult; his printed work (about 90 prints), although also rare, is perhaps better known, and represents his greatest achievement. Le Soir is one of his great triumphs in printmaking.