Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - Elles- Woman at the tub - Google Art Project

Gustave Pellet (1859–1919) was a French publisher of art. He is best known for publishing prints of erotic artworks by

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in th ...

and Louis Legrand.

Life and work

Gustave Jean Baptiste Xavier Pellet was born to a wealthy family. His spend his youth traveling and collecting art books. When the family fortune disappeared in a financial crash in 1886, Pellet decided, with a part of his book collection, to open a library in the

Quai Voltaire The Quai Voltaire is a street located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. 308 meters long, it lies between the Quai Malaquais and Quai Anatole-France. The Quai Voltaire begins at the Rue des Saints-Pères and ends at the Rue de Bac and the Pont R ...

in Paris. Pellet became a publisher of art books and fine art prints in 1887. He then moved to 51, Rue le Peletier, also in Paris. Pellet owned the rights to the artworks of

Félicien Rops Félicien Victor Joseph Rops (7 July 1833 – 23 August 1898) was a Belgian artist associated with Symbolism and the Parisian Fin-de Siecle. He was a painter, illustrator, caricaturist and a prolific and innovative print maker, particularly in ...

, whose watercolour paintings and drawings he published in a book of a hundred plates engraved by Albert Bertrand, some in colour. Among Pellet's artists were the post-impressionist painters

and

Paul Signac Paul Victor Jules Signac ( , ; 11 November 1863 – 15 August 1935) was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the Pointillist style. Biography Paul Signac was born in Paris on 11 November 1863. ...

. However, the artist that Pellet is best known for, and who he was the first to publish, is the engraver Louis Legrand. Artworks such as proof prints published by Pellet were often marked with his distinctive red monogram stamp. The artworks were often erotic, both Toulouse-Lautrec and before him Legrand making detailed studies of the night life of late nineteenth-century Paris. For example, the 1896 ''Elles'' ("Women") was a series of ten Toulouse-Lautrec lithographs and a frontispiece, which Pellet had printed on high quality wove paper, in a small edition of only 100; the paper was left deckle edged, and was specially watermarked "G. Pellet / T. Lautrec"; the women are mostly from Paris brothels, and they are shown relaxing, washing and dressing. Pellet inscribed the ''Elles'' prints in the lower right corner in pen with brown ink. Pellet published three volumes, ''Livre d'Heures'', ''La Faune Parisienne'', and ''Poèmes à l'Eau-forte'' (1914), illustrated by Legrand. He published twenty volumes by Toulouse-Lautrec from 1892 onwards. Alongside his book publishing, Pellet also published individual lithographs by artists including Paul Signac,

Georges Redon Georges may refer to: Places *Georges River, New South Wales, Australia *Georges Quay (Dublin) * Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses * Georges (name) * ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas * "Georges" (song), a 19 ...

Maximilien Luce Maximilien Luce (13 March 1858 – 6 February 1941) was a prolific French Neo-impressionist artist, known for his paintings, illustrations, engravings, and graphic art, and also for his anarchist activism. Starting as an engraver, he then c ...

, and

Louis Anquetin Louis Émile Anquetin (26 January 1861 – 19 August 1932) was a French painter. Biography Anquetin was born in Étrépagny, France, and educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen. In 1882 he came to Paris and began studying art at Lé ...

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pellet, Gustave 1859 births 1919 deaths French publishers (people) Place of birth missing