Damville (Normandy) 1875 - 1963 Puteaux
 

Le Banc de pierre / Au Jardin (3rd state), 1908

The Stone Bench / In the Garden

Drypoint

535 x 415 mm.; 21 x 16 3/8 inches

Signed and numbered 2/3

References:

Auberty & Pérussaux no. 154

Ginestet & Pouillon 236 III/IV

Notes:

1. A rare impression of the 3rd State of this work, after the removal of the burr and the simplification of the umbrella, but before the addition of the signature in the plate. This appears to be one of only three such impressions of this state.

2. In many of Villon’s 1908-09 works such as this one, the artist depicts an agreeable impressionist- type subject. At the same time, through the vigor of his drypoint in this work, as opposed to his earlier use of the more delicate medium of etching, and through his sublimation of the subject to the creation of new and sometimes quite abstract configurations, the nature of his art moves towards his monumental drypoints of 1913. These "abstract configurations", as seen particularly in the background here, often are related only coincidentally to the subjects of his compositions.