Edouard Vuillard

Original Prints: Lithographs

Invited by Maurice Denis in 1889 to join the confrérie des Nabis, a group of young artists that sought to break away radically from academic conventions, Edouard Vuillard (1868 - 1940) nevertheless developed a quite personal and refined style.  Furthermore, Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard (another member of the group) shared a studio in the early 1890s, and their mutual influence during this period in particular is remarkable.

Around 1891, he first began learning lithography and over the years produced some 60 lithographs, regularly treating only a few specific themes, notably landscapes depicting everyday scenes of city life, or intimate views of cozy interiors with his immediate family circle.  In the Ancourt workshop (where Bonnard worked at the time, as well as Tououse-Lautrec), Vuillard perfected his technique in the then-novel field of colour lithography. 

Soon noticed by Ambroise Vollard, the famous art dealer, Vuillard was soon commissioned to produce a number of large-format colour lithographs, which were published in two albums.  Although relatively unsuccessful at first, Vuillard's lithographs are today acclaimed as some of the most creative printmaking of the turn of the century.

Le Jardin des Tuileries The Tuileries Garden Roger-Marx 28 colour lithograph, 1896, the second state (of two), on chine volant paper, a superb and fresh impression with full margins This fine print of the famous garden in Paris is one of Vuillard's best-known lithographs, and which is often considered to be his first masterpiece.