Félix Henri Bracquemond (; 22 May 1833 – 29 October 1914) was a French

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, etcher, and

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique ...

. He played a key role in the revival of printmaking, encouraging artists such as

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...

and

Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( ; ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...

to use this technique. Unusually for a prominent artist of this period, he also designed pottery for a number of French factories, in an innovative style that marks the beginning of

Japonisme ''Japonisme'' is a French term that refers to the popularity and influence of Japanese art and design among a number of Western European artists in the nineteenth century following the Bakumatsu, forced reopening of foreign trade with Japan in 1 ...

in France. He was the husband of the

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painter Marie Bracquemond.

Biography

Early life

Félix Bracquemond was born in Paris. He was trained in early youth as a trade

lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...

, until Joseph Guichard, a pupil of Ingres, took him to his studio. His

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

of his grandmother, painted by him at the age of nineteen, attracted

Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...

's attention at the Salon.

Engraver

His work in painting is rather limited. It includes mostly portraits (including that of Dr. Horace Montegre, and of Paul Meurice). Painting interested him less than engraving. He drew most of his technical knowledge from the ''

Encyclopédie , better known as ''Encyclopédie'' (), was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It had many writers, known as the Encyclopédistes. It was edited by Denis ...

'' by

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during t ...

and

d'Alembert Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert ( ; ; 16 November 1717 – 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanics, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was, together with Denis Diderot, a co-editor of the ''E ...

and he worked as a self-taught artist for a long time. In 1856, Edmond de Goncourt became close friends with Bracquemond, and they both shared a love of Japanese art, the engraver having been the first to discover an album by

Hokusai , known mononymously as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. His woodblock printing in Japan, woodblock print series ''Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'' includes the iconic print ''The Gr ...

. He applied himself to

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

and etching about 1853, and played a leading and brilliant part in the revival of the etcher's art in France. Altogether he produced over eight hundred plates, comprising portraits, landscapes, scenes of contemporary life, and bird-studies, besides numerous interpretations of other artist's paintings, especially those of

Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (; 21 February 181531 January 1891) was a French Academic art, academic painter and sculpture, sculptor. He became famous for his depictions of Napoleon I of France, Napoleon and his military sieges and :wikt:manoeuv ...

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 ...

and

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; 16 July 1796 – 22 February 1875), or simply Camille Corot, was a French Landscape art, landscape and Portraitist, portrait painter as well as a printmaking, printmaker in etching. A pivotal figure in ...

. He entered the literary milieu thanks to

Auguste Poulet-Malassis Paul Emmanuel Auguste Poulet-Malassis (16 March 1825 – 11 February 1878) was a French printer and publisher who lived and worked in Paris. He was a longstanding friend and the printer-publisher of Charles Baudelaire. Biography In his short six ...

, publisher of

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics ...

with whom Bracquemond became friends. He also befriended

Théodore de Banville Théodore Faullain de Banville (; 14 March 1823 – 13 March 1891) was a French poet and writer. His work was influential on the Symbolist movement in French literature in the late 19th century. Biography Banville was born in Moulins in Allier ...

, Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, Gustave Geffroy,

Félix Nadar Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (; 5 April 1820 – 20 March 1910), known by the pseudonym Nadar () or Félix Nadar'','' was a French people, French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, balloon (aircraft), balloonist, and proponent of Hi ...

and all the elites residing in Nouvelle Athènes. He also was a friend of

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (; ; 12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a u ...

. In June 1862, he joined the Société des aquafortistes founded by the publisher Alfred Cadart with the help of the printer Auguste Delâtre. On his advice, Jean-Baptiste Corot, Jean-François Millet,

and

began to practice engraving. He greatly helped Manet for his etchings of '' Olympia'' and ''L'Homme mort''. In 1888, Auguste Lepère created with Félix Bracquemond, Daniel Vierge and Tony Beltrand, the magazine ''L'Estampe originale'', in order to interest artists and amateurs in the new processes and trends of engraving, particularly in color, and Henri Rivière worked from this date on "The Thirty Six Views of the Eiffel Tower", from 1888 to 1902. In 1891, Valloton renewed the art of engraving on wood, with

Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

or Émile Bernard while Toulouse Lautrec revolutionized the art of the poster.

Friend of the Impressionists

In 1874 Bracquemond participated in the first exhibition of Impressionist painters in the workshops of

Nadar Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (; 5 April 1820 – 20 March 1910), known by the pseudonym Nadar () or Félix Nadar'','' was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, balloon (aircraft), balloonist, and proponent of History of avi ...

, Boulevard des Capucines, of artists that would be called the Impressionists. The inauguration took place on 15 April 1874 and enjoyed a scandalous success. He presented a portrait, a frame of etchings including the portraits of

Auguste Comte Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte (; ; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher, mathematician and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the ...

and

, but also etchings after

Turner Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters * Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for tur ...

, Ingres, Manet, and original etchings: ''Les Saules'' (''The Willows''), ''Le Mur'' (''The Wall''). He exhibited again with his friends in 1879.

Ceramicist

In 1856, Bracquemond discovered a collection of

Manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

engravings by the Japanese

, typical of the pictorial genre known in Japan as ''Kachô-ga'', depicting flowers and birds with insects, crustaceans and fishes, in the workshop of his printer Auguste Delâtre, after having been used to fix a consignment of porcelain. He was seduced by this theme that made him the initiator of the vogue of

in France which seized the

decorative arts ] The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose aim is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. This includes most of the objects for the interiors of buildings, as well as interior design, but typically excl ...

during the second half of the 19th century. In 1860, he returned first to the workshop of the ceramist

Théodore Deck Joseph-Théodore Deck (2 January 1823 – 15 May 1891) was a 19th-century French Pottery, potter, an important figure in late 19th-century art pottery. Born in Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, he began learning the trade in his early 20s, moving to Paris at ...

, then to the earthenware merchant in Paris. The latter commissioned him the motifs for a table service, for a project destined for the Universal Exhibition of 1867. Bracquemond then proposed a model which appropriated the themes of the ''Kachô-ga'', drawn and engraved by himself. For the first time a European artist directly copied a Japanese artist, reproducing the animal figures of the Hokusai Manga. In 1867, Bracquemond was also one of the nine members of the " Société du Jing-lar" with Henri Fantin-Latour, Carolus Duran and the ceramist Marc-Louis Solon, who met monthly in

Sèvres Sèvres (, ) is a French Communes of France, commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris. It is located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department of the Île-de-France region. The commune, which had a populatio ...

for a Japanese dinner, to which this service would have been destined. Creil_bracquemond_service_rousseau

Eugène Rousseau was convinced and ordered two hundred pieces to be manufactured in Creil-Montereau faience. Bracquemond made the etchings and the engraved planks used by the manufacture. The proofs were cut and put on the clay to receive the decoration. In the oven, the heat made the paper disappear, leaving only the imprint of the drawing. Then it was painted over and the piece was placed in the large oven. Presented for the first time at the Universal Exhibition of 1867, this service was a great success. It was in the third group "furniture and other objects for the home", Class 17 "porcelain, earthenware, and luxury pottery" no. 58, installed on Louis XIII shelves in old oak with velvet stands. Above the counter, the name Rousseau is enameled with fire on a plaque. The jury awarded him a bronze medal (because Rousseau was merchant and not manufacturer). The gold medal was awarded to the manufacturers Lebeuf and Milliet. The service also boasted two novelties: the first was that everyone was free to compose his service according to his tastes and personal use. Rousseau suggested "the barnyard for meat, Crustaceans for fish and flowers for dessert." The second was that the service was adapted to wider circles: "for its sumptuousness to the bourgeoisie, and for its aspect serving as a hunt for the nobility." The service was then completed (teacups, coffee, etc.) and the manufacture left to the Creil and Montereau factory. Barluet, Lebeuf's successor, re-edited it in the early 1880s. In 1885, Eugène Rousseau sold his business to Ernest-Baptiste Leveillé, who continued to publish the service under his own brand. Many reissues or variants followed. Among them, that of the Manufacture Jules Vieillard in Bordeaux (late 19th century), that of the Crystal Stairs (early 20th century), or even of the faience of Gien ''The large birds'' still in reissue. It can also be noted that many pieces of this service are now preserved in various French national museums (

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

, Musée national Adrien Dubouché, etc.). Each element of the service, inspired by Japanese prints, was decorated with a different motif. The decoration treats and associates a multitude of birds, fishes, and crustaceans, always leaving room for plants and insects. The decor is often presented as a trilogy. The butterfly meets a cock at the turn of a branch, a dragonfly meets a carp at the bend of a water lily. Many artists of the time celebrated the poetry of this service and praised its exceptional decor. Mallarmé notably, noted a "visible decadence" since the Restoration in the French furniture, testifies to his appeal for this service. He lingered on ceramics for a special praise of Rousseau, whom he defended against his English imitators: "I had refused all allusions necessarily too briefly to this admirable and unique service, decorated by Bracquemond with Japanese motifs borrowed from the poultry yard and the fish ponds, the most beautiful crockery I have ever known. Each piece, the plates even, wants its special description. I am satisfied, one last time, to claim the priority of Parisian work, picturesque and spiritual on British plagiarism..." . Mallarmé quoted Deck, Collinot and Rousseau, who had "totally renewed French ceramics": "I should particularly mention, as a translation of the high Japanese charm made by a very French spirit, the table service asked, boldly, for the master Aquafortiste Bracquemond: where struts, enhanced with joyous colors, the ordinary hosts of the poultry yard and fish ponds." Mallarmé himself possessed pieces of the service, published during the period 1866–1875. Félix Bracquemond also worked for the

Manufacture nationale de Sèvres The ''Manufacture nationale de Sèvres'' () is one of the principal European porcelain factories. It is located in Sèvres, Hauts-de-Seine, France. It is the continuation of Vincennes porcelain, founded in 1740, which moved to Sèvres in 1756. ...

in 1870, giving his works a new orientation that preludes the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

modern style. He also accepted the position of artistic director of the Parisian studio of the firm Charles Haviland of

Limoges Limoges ( , , ; , locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region. Situated o ...

Other work and later life

A close friend of

James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral a ...

, and Henri Fantin-Latour, he is represented in the latter's paintings, ''Hommage à Delacroix'', 1864, preserved in Paris at the

and ''Toast with the Truth'' of 1865, destroyed by the artist. He married Marie Quivoron, a painter known as Marie Bracquemond, on 5 August 1869, in Paris. Their son, Pierre, claimed that Felix was jealous and critical of Marie's work. His beratement caused Marie to cease painting. He is also the author of a book entitled ''Du dessin et la couleur'', published in 1886, very much appreciated by

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

, and a study on woodcutting and lithography. His best engravings are devoted either to landscapes or to animals: ''Reeds and teals'' (1882), ''Les Hirondelles'' (1882), ''Les Mouettes'' (1888). He was honored as an Officer of the Legion of Honor in 1889. Gabriel P. Weisberg called him the "molder of artistic taste in his time". Indeed, it was he who recognised the beauty of the

woodcuts used as packing around a shipment of Japanese china, a discovery which helped change the look of late 19th-century art. He died in

. File:Félix bracquemond ed eugène rousseau per man. di creil et montereau, servito, parigi 1866-75, 02.JPG File:Félix bracquemond ed eugène rousseau per man. di creil et montereau, servito, parigi 1866-75, 01 carpa.JPG File:Félix bracquemond ed eugène rousseau per man. di creil et montereau, servito, parigi 1866-75, 04.JPG File:Félix bracquemond ed eugène rousseau per man. di creil et montereau, servito, parigi 1866-75, 06 zuppiera.JPG File:Manifattura di creil e montereau, félix bracquemond ed eugène rousseau, ciotola con gallo, 1865-75 ca..JPG File:Plate MET sf23.31.21.jpg, 1872–80 File:Plate MET ES4276.jpg Image:Alfred de Curzon.jpg, ''Alfred de Curzon'', 1850s Image:La Mer MET DP814171.jpg, ''La Mer'', 1850–1914 Image:Portrait of Fernand Lesseps MET DP814377.jpg, ''Portrait of Ferdinand Lesseps'', 1850–1914 Image:Frontispiece for Oeuvres Nouvelles de Champfleury, after Courbet MET DP814145.jpg, Frontispiece for ''Oeuvres Nouvelles de Champfleury'' (after Courbet), 1860–98 Image:Lantara by Bracquemond.jpg, '' Simon Lantara'' (after Vernet), for ''

L'Artiste ''L’Artiste'' was a weekly illustrated review published in Paris from 1831 to 1904, supplying "the richest single source of contemporary commentary on artists, exhibitions and trends from the Romanticism, Romantic era to the end of the ninetee ...

,''
September 1864 Image:Frontispiece for an Album of the Société des Aquafortistes MET DP814029.jpg, Frontispiece for an Album of the '' Société des Aquafortistes'', 1865 Image:Frontispiece for "L'Illustration Nouvelle" MET DP814136.jpg, Frontispiece for ''L'Illustration Nouvelle'', 1867 Image:Félix Bracquemond - La statue de la Résistance par Falguière.jpg, ''La statue de la Résistance par Falguière'', 1870 Image:Félix Bracquemond, Nôtre Dame, Paris, 1870.jpg, ''Nôtre Dame, Paris'', 1870 Image:Edwin Edwards by Félix Bracquemond.jpg, ''Edwin Edwards'', 1872 Image:The Locomotive MET DP814342.jpg, ''The Locomotive'' (after

), 1873 Image:Blanqui.JPG, Death Mask of
Auguste Blanqui, 1881 Image:Bracquemond LesHirondelles.jpg, ''Les Hirondelles'',
ca. 1882 Image:Félix Bracquemond - Jules de Goncourt.jpg, ''Portrait of
Edmond de Goncourt'', 1882 Image:AugustePoulet-Malassis.jpg, ''Portrait of Auguste
Poulet-Malassis'', 1884 Image:The Monkey and the Cat, from the Fables of La Fontaine MET DP814164.jpg, ''The Monkey and the Cat, from the Fables of La Fontaine'', 1886 Image:Charles Keene by Félix Bracquemond.jpg, '' Charles Keene'', for ''

,''
May 1891 Image:The Gallic Cock -- Long Live the Czar! (Le Coq gaulois -- Vive le Tsar!) MET DP814173.jpg, ''The Gallic Cock--Long Live the Czar!'', 1893 Image:Woman's Head, from L'Estampe Moderne MET DP814160.jpg, ''Woman's Head, from L'Estampe Moderne'', 1897–99 Image:Léon Cladel by Félix Bracquemond.jpg, ''Portrait of
Léon Cladel'', 1905 Image:Legros par Bracquemond.jpg, ''Portrait of
Alphonse Legros''

References

Works cited

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bracquemond, Felix 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists 19th-century French etchers Officers of the Legion of Honour 1833 births 1914 deaths 20th-century French printmakers 19th-century French male artists Marie Bracquemond