Les Honnêtes femmes; Conférence, Poésies inédites d'Henry Becque; La Parisienne

1904

Printed with smoky gray and black tones on cream-white paper, a man wearing a dark suit raises a cane as if to strike as a skeleton crouches beside him in this vertical halftone print. To the left, the man’s short hair blows back as he raises his right arm, to our left, across his body. His brow is deeply furrowed, his eyes scrunched, and his mouth open. His cane reaches behind his head. A top hat along his left side, to our right, could belong to him or another person in the indistinct background. To the right, the skeleton sits with knees drawn up and one hand under its chin. A garland of roses drapes around its neck and down between its legs. The body is wrapped in a light cloth. Three large black birds, perhaps oversized crows, swoop to our left from the top right corner, their wings wide and beaks reaching forward. The setting is drawn in with shading and indistinct forms, suggesting deep shadows and perhaps swirling sky. The scene is framed with a black line and the word “Programme” appears across the bottom. A monogram of a conjoined “AB” is in the lower right corner of the image, and a tiny, printed inscription in the lower left reads, “M.X. Sc.”

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    halftone on wove paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of The Atlas Foundation

  • Dimensions

    sheet (program closed): 32.7 x 25 cm (12 7/8 x 9 13/16 in.)
    sheet (program opened): 32.7 x 50.1 cm (12 7/8 x 19 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1995.76.8


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Rodolphe Darzens, Paris; Mr. and Mrs. Martin Atlas, Washington, D.C.; gift to NGA, 1995.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1998

  • Boyer, Patricia. Artists and the Avant-Garde Theater in Paris 1887-1900. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; National Academy Museum, New York, 1998-1999, no. 127.

Inscriptions

lower right in plate in ligature: AB / Programme; lower center in plate: M.X. Sc; across right side verso printed: MARDI 31 MAI 1904, à 2 heures précises / Matinée Extraordinaire / SÉPULTURE ET MONUMENT A / HENRY BECQUE / 1 LES HONNETES FEMMES / Mmes JEANNE ROLLY, ANDRÉE MERY, BARSANGE / M. SIGNORET / 2 CONFÉRENCE / M. FERDINAND BRUNETIERE, de l'Academie Française. / 3 POÉSIES INÉDITES D'HENRY BECQUE / M. COQUELIN Ainé. / 4 LA PARISIENNE / Mme RÉJANE / M. DE FÉRAUDY, de la Comédie-Française. / MM ANTOINE et GRAND.

Wikidata ID

Q75396007


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