Emile Bernard

Original Prints: Zincographs, Woodcuts

Best known as one of the founding figures of the Pont Aven school in Brittany, Emile Bernard (1868 - 1941) however first developed his novel approach to art in Paris, where he crossed paths with both Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh.  He elaborated cloisonnism as a radical pictural style with Louis Anquetin, inspired by Cézanne,* which fed most naturally into his graphic work of the time, as may be seen in what is one of his earliest prints, here below.

He first met Gauguin at Pont Aven in 1888 and they worked together to create what would become the revolutionary movement of sythetism.  They exhibited conjointly at the Café des Arts, chez Volpini, the following year, which would become a major art historical event.  Their relationship was troublesome (though it inspired some of Bernard's most poignant work), and they broke in 1891, after only three years, ...  his series of color prints, Bretonneries, stand as a monument in 19th-century French printmaking.

__________________

* Cf. Emile Bernard's writings on Cézanne: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6572642c.texteImage#Ň

La Chanteuse du Café-Concert [The Songstress in the Cabaret] Morane 5 zincograph, 1888, the rare first state (of two), printed in black, extensively heightened with watercolor wash, a very fine impression, on medium-fine tan wove paper, signed in brown crayon, lower right, with small though somewhat uneven margins This print is one of Bernard's first explorations in zincography, and resonates with the cabaret culture of the time, as may be seen in similar works by Toulouse-Lautec and Degas.