The print artists I most enjoy (Martin Lewis, Stow Wengenroth) create incredibly detailed pictures–with every line carefully drawn on the plate, whether etched, engraved or “lithographed”. I recently came across a printmaker whose approach is Impressionist–dabs and splotches in many cases as opposed to precise lines. Even when lines are used, they are often incomplete, suggesting rather than demonstrating the structure. I don’t think I enjoy this style as much as Wengenroth and Lewis’s technique but I do like it.
Maurice de Vlaminck (1875-1958) was a French artist best known as a painter and one of the creators of Fauvism. As a painter, his style definitely included much of what we think of as Impressionist, and I guess I would say the same about this print style. He favored lithography, though he also did etching and engraving. The print I’ve selected for today portrays a street in a small French village and the surrounding countryside.
Nelle-la-Vallee, le Chemin aux Bords du Sausseron (1926, lithograph)
