Harris Schrank Fine Prints

The second state, before the polka dots in the dress

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), La Porte de L’Estaminet, etching and roulette, 1925, the preliminary drawing, the etching in the second state (of 3), and the etching in the third state (of 3).  Sylvain Laboureur 294; total impressions printed 85. The third state impression is inscribed “imp” lower left and numbered (54/65), also signed lower left, and titled lower in the margin. The second state impression is signed and numbered 7/7. The drawing is initialed in pencil lower right.  Each impression and the drawing in good condition.  Plate size for the prints: 5 7/8 x 3 3/4 inches, each with wide margins. The drawing is 6 x 3 3/4 inches (the sheet 6 5/8 x 4 5/8 inches). The second and third state impressions are on a cream wove paper, the drawing is on a yellow tracing paper.

Provenance for the second state impression and drawing: Henri Petiet Collection (initials stamp verso; this stamp not in Lugt;  cf Lugt 2021a).

In La Porte de L’Estaminet Laboureur introduces a very fine roulette tint for shading around the head of the girl, around the windows, and in the tiles and spaces just behind the girl.

The drawing is a shade higher than the print; the artist draws the last letters of the word “Estaminet” nearly completely in the drawing, but cuts the tops of the letters in the print. He also shaves some of the right hand area shown in the drawing from the print.

La Porte de L’Estaminet is surely one of Laboureur’s most successful and charming small compositions.

The third state, with the polka dots in the dress.

The drawing (without the polka dots!)

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1887-1943),  Le Jockey d’Epsom (Deuxieme Planche), 1913, engraving. Reference:Sylvain Laboureur 125, only state. Edition of only 30. Signed, titled, and numbered 17/30 in pencil. Initialed and dated in the plate, lower left.

Image size: 8 1/4 x 8 13/16 inches (210 x 224 mm); sheet size 9 1/2 x 10 inches (241 x 254 mm).

A fine impression, with rich burr throughout and delicate overall plate tone, on cream wove paper; full margins (5/8 to 3/4 inch), in excellent condition.

In the “L’Express de l”Ouest” of February 18, 1914, the critic Bernesto wrote: “Cette eau-forte est une des seules manifestations en cette exposition [the XXIII exposition des Amis des Arts] de la mentalite et de l’interpretation du mouvement artistique moderne.”

Laboureur created a painting of the same subject, now at Nantes, and also a drawing on a fan of the same subject (which is less cubistic than the etching); he also created a sketchy “draft” of this etching which he apparently discarded after printing only 3 examples, and then created this print (in reverse of the first plate).

Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), L’Enfant Blessé, engraving, 1916, signed in pencil lower left and numbered (4/25) twice lower right. Reference: Laboureur 142, second state (of 2). From the edition of 25, the total printing was 32. In very good condition apart from some soft folds toward the left; printed on a cream laid paper with margins, 4 x 3 3/4, the sheet 5 x 4 1/4 inches, archival matting.

A fine impression of this exquisitely detailed rendering.

This composition is a marvelous example of Laboureur’s adaptation of the Cubist idiom to his own work. In particular, Laboureur capitalizes on the capacity of the engraving burin to create nearly microscopic regularized sharp lines and patterns which compliment the modernist, cubist approach.

This World War I subject is a walking couple: a woman and a man – a soldier – cradling a bandaged child.