The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 7, 2026

A horizontally oriented color woodcut with distinct black outlines and muted tones creates a scene of a harbor in blue and pink ripples. In the foreground, a large wooden boat angles toward the right, seven figures in blue and brown working around a tall, pale sail. In the background, a second boat moves toward the left. The composition balances these diagonal vessels against the stylized, horizontal bands of the surface of the water.

Sardine Fishermen Departing for Tréboul, from Breton Landscapes

1893

Henri Rivière

(French, 1864–1951)
France, 19th century
color woodcut printed from 12 blocks
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.)
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 2004.16
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Catalogue raisonné: Fields, p. 82, XXXIX; Sueur-Hermel 60
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.
  • A Lasting Impression: Gifts of the Print Club of Cleveland. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 5-September 22, 2019).
  • {{cite web|title=Sardine Fishermen Departing for Tréboul, from Breton Landscapes|url=false|author=Henri Rivière|year=1893|access-date=07 June 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2004.16