Auguste Brouet (1872–1941) was a French etcher and book illustrator.
Biography
Auguste Brouet was born and raised in a poor family in the popular north-east quarters of Paris and in Les Lilas, in the near suburbs. While apprenticed to a lithographer, he struggled for artistic education through the evening drawing classes of
Eugène Quignolot (Dijon, 1847- Jouarre, 1921), also briefly attending
Gustave Moreau
Gustave Moreau (; 6 April 1826 – 18 April 1898) was a French artist and an important figure in the Symbolist movement. Jean Cassou called him "the Symbolist painter par excellence".Cassou, Jean. 1979. ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Symbolism.' ...
's atelier. Starting from around 1895 he would make a living by doing hack work for fashionable artists and also crafting reproductive etchings in color, in the workshop of . Around 1902 he started to devise original etchings, sometimes larger pieces in color, more often smaller works in black and white,
as was the growing trend at the time.
In the 1920s, his etchings came under strong demand both in France and in the United States,
in the wake of the
Print Revival. At that time, he also produced a significant body of book illustrations, most notably for
Devambez
Maison Devambez is the name of a fine printer's firm in Paris. It operated under that name from 1873, when a printing business established by the royal engraver Hippolyte Brasseux in 1826 was acquired by Édouard Devambez. At first the firm spe ...
, under the direction of
Edouard Chimot. This period of prosperity ends with the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, from which the print market never quite recovered. Brouet died in 1941 in poverty.
Style
The art of Auguste Brouet belongs to the classical tradition. Brouet remained almost completely impervious to the modernist trends developing at the time.
There are two characteristics which make a Brouet etching unmistakable:
* a certain expressive looseness of the drawing, which in his best work blends magnificently with his use of light and shades
* a very keen and sympathetic eye for all the lower social categories, their daily activities and shabby surroundings. Even his war subjects display this inner restraint and brooding mood which are so distinctive of his work.
As to books, he devised illustrations for a dozen volumes. Not surprisingly he came out at his best with texts inspired by
Naturalism, such as
Edmond de Goncourt
Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt (; 26 May 182216 July 1896) was a French writer, literary critic, art critic, book publisher and the founder of the Académie Goncourt.
Biography
Goncourt was born in Nancy. His parents, Marc-Pierre Huot d ...
's novel ''Les Frères Zemganno'' or
Joris-Karl Huysmans
Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (, ; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (, variably abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel ''À rebou ...
's collection of short stories ''Le Drageoir aux Epices''.
Catalogs
His work is listed in:
* the catalog of the Bonabeau collection, with most of Brouet's production of original etchings until 1923.
* the catalog of the collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
* a searchable online catalogue
of Brouet's original etchings, excluding colour etchings and illustrations.
Bibliography
* Bergquist, Stephen A. "The Musical Paris of Auguste Brouet", ''Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography'' XLIII/1-2 (2018), 67-85.
References
External links
Auguste Brouet - a short bio (in English)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brouet, Auguste
1872 births
1941 deaths
French etchers
French illustrators
Artists from Paris