Louis-Auguste Lepère (30 November 1849 – 20 November 1918) was a French painter and

etcher Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

. Lepère is also considered a leader in the creative revival of

wood engraving Wood engraving is a printmaking technique, in which an artist works an image into a block of wood. Functionally a variety of woodcut, it uses relief printing, where the artist applies ink to the face of the block and prints using relatively l ...

in Europe.

Biography

Louis-Auguste Lepère was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. At the age of thirteen, he began his artistic education in the Paris studio of the engraver Joseph Burn-Smeeton. By the mid-1870s, Lepère had emerged as one of the most renowned printmakers of his time. Lepère focused mostly on daily life in both his etchings and wood engravings. He is now remembered for his innovations, such as the use of colored paper and the combining of etching and wood engraving on the same print. The last years of Lepère's life were given almost exclusively to wood engraving. In total, his graphic oeuvre consists of over 150 etchings, over 200 wood engravings and 14 lithographs. He died at Domme, aged 68.

Collections

Lepère's work is held in the permanent collections of many institutions, including the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

, the

Allen Memorial Art Museum The Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM) is an art museum located in Oberlin, Ohio, and it is run by Oberlin College. Founded in 1917, the collection contains over 15,000 works of art. Overview The AMAM is primarily a teaching museum and is aimed at ...

, the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

, the

Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum (PAM) is an art museum in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. The Portland Art Museum has 240,000 square feet (22,000 m2), with more than 112,000 square feet (10,400 m2) of gallery space. The museum’s permanent c ...

, the

Birmingham Museum of Art The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. Its collection includes more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts representing various cultures, including Asian, European, United States, Amer ...

, the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

, the

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) is one of the largest university art museums in the United States, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with . Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alu ...

, the

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. FAMSF's combined attendance was 1,1 ...

, the

Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the A ...

, the

Lowe Art Museum Lowe Art Museum is the art museum of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The museum is located on the campus of the University of Miami and is accessible by Metrorail (Miami-Dade County), Miami Metrorail at University station (Miami- ...

, the

Blanton Museum of Art The Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art (often referred to as the Blanton or the BMA) at the University of Texas at Austin is one of the largest university art museums in the U.S. with 189,340 square feet devoted to temporary exhibitions, permanent co ...

, the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

, the

Artizon Museum Artizon Museum , until 2018 , is an art museum in Tokyo, Japan. The museum was founded in 1952 by the founder of Bridgestone Tire Co., Shojiro Ishibashi, Ishibashi Shojiro (his family name means stone bridge). The museum's collections include I ...

, the

Des Moines Art Center The Des Moines Art Center is an art museum with an extensive collection of paintings, sculpture, modern art and mixed media. It was established in 1948 in Des Moines, Iowa. History The Art Center traces its roots to 1916, when the Des Moines A ...

, the

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a museum institution located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It has list of largest art museums, one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it cove ...

, the

Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, the Garden at Newfields and more. It is located at the corner of No ...

, and the

Clark Art Institute The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European ...

Works

File:(Albi) Autour du brasero (vue de Paris) 1892 - Auguste Lepère.jpg, ''Autour du brasero'' (1892), pastel on cardboard File:Laundresses (Blanchisseuses) (How Quickly Youth Fades! - Jeunesse passe vite vertu!) MET DP834391.jpg, Laundresses (Blanchisseuses) - Soft-ground etching and aquatint; printed in three colors (1893) File:Jeu des grâces - 1900.jpg, Jeu des grâces dans la rue, illustration de ''Paysages et coins de rues'' de Jean Richepin File:Façade of Rouen Cathedral by Auguste Lepère.jpg, View of thefaçade of Rouen Cathedral, seen from the right, wood engraving- British Museum File:Auguste Louis Lepère - The Watering Place at Marie Bridge - 2007.255 - Cleveland Museum of Art.jpg, The Watering Place at Marie Bridge (1902) File:Auguste Louis Lepère - The Printer - 1953.536 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif, The printer- estampe: Woodcut with hand coloring File:Auguste Louis Lepère - Storm on the Island of Yeu - 1925.435 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif, Storm on the Island of Yeu - Watercolor and gouache over black crayon. (1916)

References

External links

Auguste-Louis Lepère exhibition catalogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lepere, Auguste-Louis French engravers

French printmakers French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), a ...

1849 births 1918 deaths Painters from Paris Officers of the Legion of Honour 19th-century French engravers 20th-century French engravers 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists Color engravers 19th-century French male artists