La Promenade Sur Le Port
Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), La Promenade Sur Le Port, 1933, engraving, signed in pencil lower left. Reference: Godefry 482, Sylvain Laboureur 482, second state (of 2); from the edition of 235 (a total of 263 were printed) printed for the Print Club of Cleveland as a Presentation Print (1935). In pristine condition, still in the original presentation mat, on a cream wove paper with full margins, 8 1/2 x 8 3/4, the sheet 13 1/2 x 12 3/4 inches.
A fine impression, printed with a subtle veil of plate tone.
By the mid-Thirties Laboureur was of course well known as a printmaker who had developed his own variation on cubism, using etching and engraving as his medium. In this print chosen by the print lovers of Cleveland for their annual print Laboureur – perhaps ironically – has depicted a scene in his beloved (French) Croisic. Perhaps it is remindful of Cleveland.
This print was issued in a rather larger edition than is typical for Laboureur prints, and so is not considered rare today, at least in the US. But this print is considered somewhat of a rarity in Europe (Sylvain Laboureur notes of the edition impressions “ces dernieres sont d’une grande rarete en Europe”), and when it has appeared at auction there it commands a hefty premium.