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for FELIX BRACQUEMOND
FELIX BRACQUEMOND
1833 - 1914
(b Paris, ?28 May 1833; d Sèvres, nr Paris, 27 Oct 1914).
Printmaker, designer, painter and writer. From a humble background, he set out on an artistic career after meeting the painter Joseph Guichard, a pupil of Ingres and Delacroix, who was to be his only teacher. He was brought up by a philanthropist friend of Auguste Comte, Dr Horace de Montègre, whose portrait he drew in pastel in 1860 (Paris, Mus. d'Orsay). Comte's positivist philosophy was a considerable influence on Bracquemond's aesthetic ideas. From 1852 he exhibited at the Salon both drawn and painted portraits in the style of Ingres, for example Mme Paul Meurice (Compiègne, Château), but he gave up painting after 1869.
Bracquemond is better known as a printmaker and designer. He taught himself etching and began working in the medium as early as 1849, supporting himself with difficulty by means of commercial lithographic work. He was one of the last friends of Charles Meryon and with him was the principal inspiration of the etching revival in France (see Etching, §V). In 1862 he founded the Société des Aquafortistes, which included a large proportion of the etchers of the period. His masterpiece and best-known etching is Le Haut d'un battant de porte ('The top of a door', 1852; see fig.), a startling combination of the prosaically macabre and decorative trompe l'oeil. Bracquemond produced almost 900 plates, divided about equally between original and reproductive prints. He etched portraits (e.g. Meryon, 1853; Edmond de Goncourt, 1882) and some 80 landscapes, many in the spirit of Corot (e.g. Willow Trees in Mottiaux, 1868), but specialized in depicting animals, particularly ducks (e.g. Teal, 1853).
Bracquemond was one of the first to discover and popularize Japanese prints, having reputedly come upon Hokusai's Manga in Auguste Delâtre's printshop. He adopted their asymmetrical compositions and specific naturalistic motifs in his etchings and ceramics, which he began designing in the 1860s. He worked for a while in the studio of Joseph-Théodore Deck (1823-91), where he learnt the technique of enamel painting. In 1866 he was commissioned by Eugène Rousseau (1827-91) to design a large faience service. While director of the Haviland factory he continued to exhibit his etchings at the Salon. His greatest success as a printmaker was in 1900, when his etchings won first prize at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. He designed furniture, gold and silver jewellery and tableware, bookbindings and tapestry in collaboration chiefly with Rodin and Jules Chéret. His furniture designs for Baron Joseph Vitta's Villa La Sapinière at Evian were shown at the Salon of 1902. At the end of his life he produced designs for decorative art for his friend and devoted admirer, the writer and critic Gustave Geffroy, who was then director of the Gobelins.
Bracquemond published theoretical writings, particularly from 1878 onwards. His very personal theory of the art of relief and the place of colour in design is summarized in Du dessin et de la couleur (1885). He was a founder-member of the Société des Artistes Français and later belonged to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. In 1890 he founded the Société des Peintres-Graveurs Français to preserve the art of original engraving against the rapid development of photographic techniques.
Writings
Du dessin et de la couleur (Paris, 1885)
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