The Eskenazi Museum of Art presented its Noon Talk on Wednesday and featured guest-speaker Nicolas Valazza, associate professor of French at IU. Valazza centered his talk on the “Sociéte des aquafortistes,” an etching created by Felix Bracquemond.
“At first sight, the portrait may seem conventional,” Valazza said.
However, Valazza said despite what it may appear to be, this etching is exceptional for two main reasons.
The first of these is the dimension of the portrait. The “Sociéte des aquafortistes,” measuring 20 inches in length and 13 inches in width, is a very large etching that took Bracquemond two years to complete from 1879 to 1881.
The second is the iconography of the etching and the contrast of light and dark used in creating this.
“Technically, this is a very elaborate etching,” Valazza said.
Valazza, displaying eight different versions of the etching, each lighter than the first, said Bracquemond did the etching in eight stages. The portrait displayed in the Eskenazi Museum shows the final stage, one of 150 copies printed by Bracquemond.
It was common at the time for etchers and writers to collaborate in the printing of these pieces of art because writers were seeking more and more for collaborations with artists to illustrate their books, Valazza said.
Valazza said Bracquemond was the first French artist to discover an album of Japanese prints and was also active in decorative arts, such as ceramics. This was something he shared with friend Edmond de Goncourt.
De Goncourt is actually the subject of "Portrait of Edmond de Goncourt," which also represents many elements of his Japanese collection in the background.
Further, Valazza said this is an etching done of two writers, rather than one, because it pays tribute to Jules de Goncourt, Edmond’s deceased brother, whose name is on the portfolio featured in the bottom right of the etching.
“In a way, this portrait resurrects the brother through this portfolio and this black ribbon,” Valazza said.
These brothers were known for co-writing works until the death of Jules in the 1870s.
Valazza said all of the artworks and decorations in the background are described in his book, “La maison d’un artiste,” and it would be difficult to distinguish certain items, such as what is portrayed in the mirror behind him, if the text did not clarify. However, Valazza said the text has not been translated to English.
Because of this, Ph.D. student Julie Owen translated for Valazza that the object in the mirror was “a coiling wrath of Korean lions.”
“In light of the text, we appreciate the complexity of media reflected in the text itself,” Valazza said.
He said the presence of the mirror and the lack of Bracquemond being reflected in it conveys the idea that this is a self-portrait of de Goncourt instead.
David Brenneman, director of the Eskenazi Museum, said this is one of his favorite prints in the museum and said that these artists deserve to be better-known.
“It’s really great when you can pick apart an image and see things you’ve never seen before,” Brenneman said.
