The Wreckers (Les Démolisseurs)

1896

Not on view

This lithograph, executed in the tonal style of Signac’s early drawings and reminiscent of his friend Georges Seurat’s graphic approach, represents the most explicit political statement made by the artist in his oeuvre. Published by Jean Grave, editor of the anarchist journal Les Temps nouveaux, the symbolism of the print is overt: the worker demolishes the capitalist state with a pickax and the rising sun announces the dawn of a new order. The medium of lithography suited the message though Signac later made a painting based on the print (Musée d’Orsay).

Artwork Details

Title: The Wreckers (Les Démolisseurs)
Artist: Paul Signac (French, Paris 1863–1935 Paris)
Date: 1896
Medium: Lithograph; second state of four
Dimensions: Image: 18 1/2 in. × 12 in. (47 × 30.5 cm)
Sheet: 22 5/16 × 21 1/2 in. (56.7 × 54.6 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Purchase, Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation Gift, A. Hyatt Mayor Purchase Fund, Marjorie Phelps Starr Bequest, and Mary Oenslager Fund, 2017
Object Number: 2017.187
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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In the same medium

From the same time and place

Evening Calm, Concarneau, Opus 220 (Allegro Maestoso), Paul Signac French, Oil on canvas — Evening Calm, Concarneau, Opus 220 (Allegro Maestoso)
Paul Signac
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Ceramic Horn, Glazed pottery, French — Ceramic Horn
French
late 18th or early 19th century

Accident, Robert Rauschenberg American, Lithograph — Accident
Robert Rauschenberg
1963

The Dining Room, Paul Signac French, Graphite and ink on Japan paper — The Dining Room
Paul Signac
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Moulin Rouge: La Goulue, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec French, Lithograph printed in four colors; three sheets of wove paper — Moulin Rouge: La Goulue
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Printer Affiches Américaines, Charles Lévy
1891

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