Harris Schrank Fine Prints

Laboureur - La Merchande de Liqueurs

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), La Marchande de Liqueurs, engraving, 1916-1920, signed in pencil lower left and numbered (7/45), annotated “imp” lower right, and titled lower left margin. Reference: Laboureur 165, second state (of 2). In very good condition (remains of prior hinging right edge verso), the full sheet with wide margins, printed in black ink on cream laid paper. 5 1/4 x 4 1/4, the sheet 10 3/4 x 8 5/8 inches.

Provenance: Marcel Lecompte, Paris

A fine fresh impression, printed with a subtle veil of plate tone.

An exquisite example of Laboureur’s use of the burin in furtherance of his cubist style. The elongated body of the woman – and the bottles – may reflect Laboureur’s interest in Mannerist prints, which he studied years earlier in the print rooms of Europe.

Laboureur printed 8 impressions of the first state in 1916, numbering them 1-8. He later added the initial L lower left, and a few lines on the woman’s shoulder, creating a second state, and printed 28 numbered impressions (numbers 29-45 of the intended edition of 45 were never printed), completing the printing of this print after WWI, in 1920. The total impressions printed of La Marchande de Liqueurs in both states is thus 36.