Sardine Fishermen Departing for Tréboul, from Breton Landscapes

Paysages Bretons: Départ de Sardiniers à Tréboul

1893

Henri Rivière

(French, 1864–1951)

Culture

France, 19th century

Medium

color woodcut printed from 12 blocks

Support

Japanese laid tissue

Measurements

Sheet: 35 x 52.2 cm (13 3/4 x 20 9/16 in.); Image: 23 x 35.1 cm (9 1/16 x 13 13/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 2004.16

Catalogue raisonné

Fields, p. 82, XXXIX; Sueur-Hermel 60

Edition

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Description

This print belongs to a series made after one of Henri Rivière’s many trips to the rural French coast in Brittany. The subject and flattened perspective of the image, which depicts sailors preparing to harvest fish, were deeply influenced by Japanese woodblock prints. Rivière deliberately emulated the techniques of these works, carving individual blocks for each color that were carefully aligned and separately printed using traditional Japanese tools. Because of this work’s especially complicated composition and color palette, its creation required a total of 12 blocks.