Henri Delavallée (1862-1943) - Lot 172

Henri Delavallée (1862-1943) Pollarded oaks (Brittany). 1892-1893. Soft varnish on zinc. 290 x 195. Morane 49. Good proof on cream laid paper, heavily sunned, annotated in pencil "1er Etat 1re ep. nature" and signed. Heavy freckling. Small margins. Stamp R. T. Joint: La Rue du hameau Lefèvre à Landemer. 1891. Etching, soft varnish and aquatint. 315 x 265. Morane 12. Very fine proof on cream laid paper, annotated at the bottom in pencil in the subject "Etat unique" and signed. Light foxing. Soft oblique median fold. Full margins. Edition of 50 proofs. Stamp R. T. Set. 2 p. "The use of soft varnish here allows Henri Delavallée to modulate volumes and graduate the different planes. The use of zinc further enhances this impression of softness and explains the misty effect that results from poor wiping. Pollarded oaks interested the artists of the Pont-Aven School: the swirling forms of their stunted branches can be found in Roderic O'Conor, for example (Les Grands arbres); Chênes têtards was presented, under number 148, at the fifth Peintres-Graveurs exhibition from April 7 to 28, 1893." (M. Grivel, ed., Gauguin et l'École de Pont-Aven, exhibition catalog, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, 1989, p. 58).