Auguste Feyen-Perrin, “Éclair”, 1868

Auguste Feyen-Perrin (also known as François-Nicolas-Augustin Feyen-Perrin) (1826-1888)

“Éclair”—lightning or a flash of lightning (not the French pastry eaten “in a flash”), 1868

Technical Details & Condition:

Etching and aquatint on fine laid paper. The plate is numbered 32 from first volume (1868) of the series “L’Illustration Nouvelle” published in Paris by Cadart & Luce (Alfred Cadart and his assistant Léandre Luce) (fl. 1867–1870/1). It was printed by Auguste Delâtre (1822–1907).

This is a richly inked and well-printed impression with generously wide margins. Aside from minor age-toning, the sheet is in excellent condition, free of tears, holes, folds, abrasions, or significant stains.

Dimensions:

• Sheet: 32.5 x 40.2 cm
• Platemark: 15.1 x 25 cm
• Image borderline: 12.9 x 20.4 cm

Plate Lettering:

• Lower left: “Feyen-Perrin sc.”
• Lower centre: “ÉCLAIR / CADART & LUCE, Editeurs,Rue N^ve des Mathurins,58.”
• Upper right: “32.”
• Lower right: “Imp.Delâtre,Paris.”

References:

• British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1870-0514-861
• Kunsthalle Bremen: https://bremen.museum-digital.de/object/19491  

Price & Shipping:

AU$229 (approximately US$158.23 / €137.25 / £119.72), including worldwide express shipping. Import duties are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in acquiring this eye-catching etching of a female nude illuminated against darkness like a lightning flash, please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I will be happy to provide a PayPal invoice to facilitate a smooth and secure purchase.

This print has been sold 

Auguste Feyen-Perrin’s etching, “Winnowers of Cancale”, 1872

Auguste Feyen-Perrin (aka François Nicolas Augustin Feyen-Perrin) (1826–1888)

“Winnowers of Cancale” (aka “Vanneuses de Cancale”), 1872, artist’s proof before lettering for publication in Paris by Alfred Cadart (1828–1875) as plate numbered 169 to “L'Illustration Nouvelle par une Société de Peintres-Graveurs à l'Eau-Forte”, vol. 4, 1872 (see https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8527599w/f42.item).

Etching on tissue thin buff coloured laid paper with wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 39 x 27.6 cm; (plate) 23.8 x 16 cm; (inner image borderline) 20 x 11.9 cm.

Beraldi 8 (Henri Béraldi 1887, “Les graveurs du XIXe siècle: Guide de l'amateur d'estampes modernes: DORÉ - GAVARD”, vol. 6, Paris, Librairie L. Conquet, p. 98, cat. no. 8).

Condition: a richly inked and near flawless proof impression with generously wide margins in a near pristine condition with no tears, holes, abrasions, stains or foxing. There is a pencil inscription at the lower edge showing the artist’s name and the title of the print.

I am selling this exceptionally strong, proof-state, lifetime impression before lettering and numbering for publication, for the total cost of AU$257 (currently US$170.31/EUR155.44/GBP132.88 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this marvellous etching capturing, in a freeze-framed endless iconic moment, the stoic work of rural women as they separate chaff from grain—interestingly, Philip Gilbert Hammerton (1876) in “Etching & Etchers” proposes that the artist “has much natural sympathy for the pathos of hard life, especially as it touches women” (p. 226)—please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Auguste Feyen-Perrin’s etching, “Death of Armar”, 1864

Auguste Feyen-Perrin (aka François Auguste Feyen-Perrin; François Nicolas Augustin Feyen-Perrin) (1826–1888)

“Morte d'Armar” (Death of Armar), 1864, plate 81, illustration to “Ossian”, published in Paris by Cadart & Luquet (fl.1863–67) and printed by Auguste Delâtre (1822–1907) for the Société des Aquafortistes’ second volume of prints, “Eaux-Fortes Modernes: Originales et Inédites” (September 1863–August 1864) with 60 plates numbered from “61” to “121”.

Note: the author of poem, “Ossian”, which this etching illustrates, caused a great deal of academic rumbling in the nineteenth century as the question arose: Was the translator, James Macpherson, the true author rather than simply a translation of what Macpherson describes—in the collected title of the poems—as "Fragments of ancient poetry, collected in the mountains of Scotland and translated from the German or Gallic language"?

Etching with aquatint on laid paper with watermark (“Aqua Fortistes”) and with the blind-stamp of the publisher (Cadart & Luquet) in the lower margin.

Size: (sheet) 44.1 x 28.4 cm; (plate) 31.8 x 23.8 cm; (image borderline) 27.5 x 18.9 cm

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower right) “A Feyen-Perrin” (slightly obscured by the background strokes).

Numbered on plate above the image borderline: (right corner) “81.”

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Feyen-Perrin sculpt.”; (centre) “Armar se jette à la mer résolu de sauver Daura. Soudain un coup de vent fond du haut de la colline,/ Armar s'abime et ne reparait plus. (Ossian)./ Paris, Publié par A. CADART & LUQUET, Éditeurs, 79, Rue Richelieu.”; (right) Imp. Delâtre Rue St Jacques, 303, Paris.” 

Beraldi 1885 13 (Henri Beraldi 1885, “Les Graveurs du dix-neuvième siècle”, 12 vols plus supplement, Paris)

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Plate 81: nude male being subsumed by spirit, nude female figure above in shadows; illustration to Ossian”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1342723&partId=1&searchText=Feyen_Perrin+Armar&page=1)

Condition: a richly inked and near faultless impression in near pristine condition for its age (i.e. there are no tears, holes, creases, abrasions, stains, foxing, or signs of handling).

I am selling this wonderfully mysterious and romantic etching showing Armar drowning in his birthday suit after having thrown himself into the sea to save Daura looking forlorn perched on a rocky ledge, for AU$194 (currently US$138.24/EUR120.82/GBP108.50 at the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world (but not, of course, any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries).

If you are interested in purchasing this extraordinarily beautiful etching full of theatrical light and dramatic rhythms, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Auguste Feyen-Perrin’s etching, “Vanneuse” (Winnower), c1875

Auguste Feyen-Perrin (aka François Auguste Feyen-Perrin; François Nicolas Augustin Feyen-Perrin) (1826–1888)

“Vanneuse” (Winnower), c1875, printed by Alfred Salmon (aka Alfred Fortuné Salmon) (fl.1863–1894)

Etching on thick white wove paper with wide margins

Size: (sheet) 32.7 x 23.3 cm; (plate) 16.8 x 10.6 cm; (image borderline) 13.5 x 7.6 cm

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Feyen-Perrin del. et sc.”; (centre) “VANNEUSE”; (right) "Imp.A.Salmon.”

See details about this print at Les Musée de la Ville de Paris:

http://parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/musee-carnavalet/oeuvres/vanneuse#infos-secondaires-detail

Condition: faultless impression in pristine condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or any signs of handling) with wide margins.

I am selling this rare etching (I have only been able to locate one copy of it in any public collection) in pristine condition for AU$154 (currently US$114.32/EUR97.64/GBP86.91 at the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world (but not, of course, any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries).

If you are interested in purchasing this extraordinarily beautiful etching, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold

Like many of Feyen-Perrin’s etchings this print is related to an oil painting of the same composition. The artist’s choice of subject—here a winnower—leaned towards images of working folk especially those near the sea. In this print, for example, I suspect that the far distance portrayed with horizontal lines may be the ocean rather than fields. Feyen-Perrin’s interest, however, was not simply depicting their labour with objectively cool eyes. Instead, his fascination is similar to that of Millet in showing rural work as noble labour worthy of respect.

Interestingly, Philip Gilbert Hammerton (1876) in his justifiably famous “Etching & Etchers” (printed in lots of editions) views the portrayed workers in Feyen-Perrin’s etchings as “rather melancholy” (p. 226) and proposes that the artist “has much natural sympathy for the pathos of hard life, especially as it touches women” (ibid). From my way of looking at this particular print, I see this lady in her engagement with letting the breeze blow away the chaff from the grain as all about freeze framing the act so that it becomes an endless iconic moment.