Paul-Émile Bécat (2 February 1885 – 1 January 1960 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

) was a French painter, printmaker and engraver, and was awarded first prize in the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

in 1920. He was a student of

Gabriel Ferrier Gabriel-Joseph-Marie-Augustin Ferrier (29 September 1847 in Nîmes – 6 June 1914 in Paris) was a French portrait painter and orientalist. Biography His father was a pharmacist. He began his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he worke ...

and

François Flameng François Flameng (1856–1923) was a notable French painter during the last quarter of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th. He was the son of Léopold Flameng, a celebrated printmaker, and received a first-rate education in his c ...

and exhibitioned at the

Salon de Paris The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

in 1913. Returning from his travels to the Congo, Gabon, and the Sudan, he specialised from 1933 in the technique of

drypoint Drypoint is a printmaking technique of the intaglio family, in which an image is incised into a plate (or "matrix") with a hard-pointed "needle" of sharp metal or diamond point. In principle, the method is practically identical to engraving. The ...

in his erotic works. Today he is best known for his portraits of French writers, and for his erotic works.

Illustrative Work

Pierre Louÿs Pierre Louÿs (; 10 December 1870 – 4 June 1925) was a French poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes in some of his writings. He is known as a writer who sought to "express pagan sensuality with stylistic perfection". ...

, '' Aphrodite: mœurs antiques'' *

Pietro Aretino Pietro Aretino (, ; 19 or 20 April 1492 – 21 October 1556) was an Italian author, playwright, poet, satirist and blackmailer, who wielded influence on contemporary art and politics. He was one of the most influential writers of his time and a ...

, ''Ragionamenti'' *Brantôme, ''Vie des dames galantes'' *

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos (; 18 October 1741 – 5 September 1803) was a French novelist, official, Freemason and army general, best known for writing the epistolary novel '' Les Liaisons dangereuses'' (''Dangerous Liaisons'' ...

, ''

Les Liaisons dangereuses ''Les Liaisons dangereuses'' (; English: ''Dangerous Liaisons'') is a French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in four volumes by Durand Neveu from March 23, 1782. It is the story of the Marquise de Merteuil and ...

'' *

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the '' fin de siècle'' in international and ...

, ''Les amies'' *François-Mathieu Mathieu-François Pidansat de Mairobert, ''La secte des anandrynes'' *Voltaire, Le Taureau Blanc, La princesse de Babylone (1951)

External links

Bibliography
Illustrated books by Bécat
Illustrations by Bécat
Spanish

2006 Tate Britain exhibition, supported by BP. {{DEFAULTSORT:Becat, Paul-Emile 1885 births 1960 deaths 20th-century engravers French engravers 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French male painters 20th-century French printmakers