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."

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

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

More Artwork

By Henri-Charles Guérard

In the same medium

From the same time and place

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Whistler's "Portrait of Himself", Henri-Charles Guérard French, Roulette, aquatint and etching; seventh state of seven — Whistler's "Portrait of Himself"
Henri-Charles Guérard
James McNeill Whistler
1888

Laure, after Eva Gonzalès, Henri-Charles Guérard French, Etching and drypoint, with plate tone, printed in brown and black ink; second state of two — Laure, after Eva Gonzalès
Henri-Charles Guérard
Eva Gonzalès
1888

Whistler's "Portrait of Himself", Henri-Charles Guérard French, Roulette, aquatint and etching printed in brown ink; sixth state of seven — Whistler's "Portrait of Himself"
Henri-Charles Guérard
James McNeill Whistler
1888

Whistler's "Portrait of Himself", Henri-Charles Guérard French, Roulette, aquatint and etching printed in brown ink; seventh state of seven — Whistler's "Portrait of Himself"
Henri-Charles Guérard
James McNeill Whistler
1888

Frontispiece to "Eaux-fortes de Guérard, Collection de Mr. S. P. [Samuel Putnam] Avery, New York", Henri-Charles Guérard French, Black chalk — Frontispiece to "Eaux-fortes de Guérard, Collection de Mr. S. P. [Samuel Putnam] Avery, New York"
Henri-Charles Guérard
Samuel Putnam Avery Sr.
late 19th century

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