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Morphine Addicts

1887
Not on view
Paul-Albert Besnard (1849-1934) was a student of the academic painter Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889), won the prix de Rome in 1874 and was among the founders of the Société Nationale in 1890. Throughout his career his style remained in between academic and impressionistic. During the last thirty years of his life he held important positions in the Académie de France in Rome, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, the Académie française, the Académie de Saint Luc and the Royal Academy.
Besnard's deeply incised etching lines cast his feline women in dark shadows and gave them a tragic accent. Melancholy, bored, and dramatically alluring (in a Gloria Swanson way), they help to define for us the decadence of the century.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Morphine Addicts
  • Artist: Paul-Albert Besnard (French, Paris 1849–1934 Paris)
  • Date: 1887
  • Medium: Etching, only state
  • Dimensions: Image: 9 5/16 × 14 9/16 in. (23.7 × 37 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1967
  • Object Number: 67.793.15
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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The Poet Robert de Montesquiou, Paul-Albert Besnard French, Etching; sixth state of six
The Poet Robert de Montesquiou
Paul-Albert Besnard
1889
Sadness, Paul-Albert Besnard French, Etching; third state of three
Sadness
Paul-Albert Besnard
1887
The Socialite Victory or The Worldy Triumph, Paul-Albert Besnard French, Etching; first state of three; very rare
The Socialite Victory or The Worldy Triumph
Paul-Albert Besnard
1886
Madame Besnard, Paul-Albert Besnard French, Etching; only state
Madame Besnard
Paul-Albert Besnard
1884
A Snack under the Trees, Paul-Albert Besnard French, Etching; first of three states
A Snack under the Trees
Paul-Albert Besnard
1924

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