La Vague, Marseille, ou le Mistral, Marseille (The Wave or the Mistral, Marseille)

ca. 1893

Not on view

Guérard, known for his experimentation as a printmaker, here employed a greenish ink for the churning sea in this view from Marseille. His title "The Wave" is certainly a nod to the celebrated work of Japanese printmaker Katsushika Hokusai, whom he greatly admired. The alternate title conveys that the turbulent waters in this scene are due to the mistral, a bitter northwesterly wind that blows in the south of France between the winter and spring seasons. The island visible in the distance is likely the Ile d’If, a former fortress made famous as a prison in the nineteenth century by Alexandre Dumas père in his popular novel "The Count of Monte-Cristo."

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Catalogue Raisonné

Title: La Vague, Marseille, ou le Mistral, Marseille (The Wave or the Mistral, Marseille)
Artist: Henri Charles Guérard (French, Paris 1846–1897 Paris)
Date: ca. 1893
Medium: Etching and drypoint printed in green ink
Dimensions: image: 12 1/16 x 18 7/16 in. (30.6 x 46.8 cm)
sheet: 18 7/8 x 23 3/4 in. (48 x 60.3 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1982
Object Number: 1982.1028
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Nocturne: Palaces, James McNeill Whistler American, Etching and drypoint; printed in dark brown ink on drum mounted medium weight ivory laid paper. — Nocturne: Palaces
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Self-Portrait, Henri Charles Guérard French, Etching with roulette and mezzotint; eighth state of eight — Self-Portrait
Henri Charles Guérard
ca. 1890

Osage Warrior, Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin French, Watercolor and graphite on off-white wove paper, American — Osage Warrior
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