Paul Renouard, Avant Le Ballet, 1898, Original Lithograph for sale at Pamono

Description

Paul Renouard (1845 – 1924)

Avant Le Ballet
(Before The Ballet)

Original Lithograph from the glorious portfolio “L’Estampe Moderne”, issue #17 (September 1898)

On wove paper

Year: 1898

Size (sheet): 405 x 305 mm
Size (image): 317 x 228 mm

Signed and dated, bottom left

Blind stamp of the publisher, bottom right, out of the image

Excellent condition: minor signs of age and handling
Great colours
Full margins (not cropped, not trimmed)

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About the Collection (L’Estampe Moderne)

L’Estampe Moderne appeared in 1897-1899 as a series of 24 monthly fascicles, each containing 4 original lithographs, printed by Parisian Imprimerie Champenois. Many accomplished European Art Nouveau painters contributed works to this publication, which contained only Original prints invented and produced especially for this collection. The publication was edited by Charles Masson and H. Piazza. Each issue came in a paper cover bearing an original lithograph by Alphonse Mucha.
Each lithograph was accompanied by a tissue containing the details (title of the artwork, name of the artist, etc.) and a short text by a well-known author who inspired the artist (this one being from La Danse et Les Ballets, by J. Reading).
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About the artist

Charles Paul Renouard (Cour-Cheverny, 1845 – Paris, 1924) was a French painter, engraver and illustrator.
The sixth child of a modest clog maker, Paul Renouard left his native region in 1859 to earn his living in Paris. He became a house painter and had the opportunity to come and work in the premises of the cole des Beaux-Arts . There he occasionally showed a talent for drawing that he had had since childhood. He was noticed and in 1868, he was admitted to the Beaux-Arts where he entered the studio of Isidore Pils. A beloved student of the latter, he helped him in the execution of the interior decorations of the Opra Garnier and, in 1875, Pils having fallen ill, Paul Renouard painted the ceilings of the grand staircase from his master’s cartoons.
In London, where he lived almost as much as in Paris, he illustrated the Parliament, the Salvation Army, prisons, the docklands, the opium dens of the East End, the Lyceum Theatre, the Courts of Justice, the Horse Guards barracks and the worlds of sport and music halls.
In Rome during Holy Week, in Washington during the Congress, he captured overseas political life in a collection of portraits and scenes as expressive as they are witty.

“More than a painter of modern life, he was its highly informed journalist, an intelligent and clear-sighted reporter, who with a lively and rapid gaze from which nothing seems to escape immediately perceives what must be seen and remembered as picturesque and tragic; for Paul Renouard knew on occasion how to rise to history and noted faithfully with a firm, prompt and bold pencil, with a power of truth which surely locates the scene and the environment, energetically outlined the characters, emphasising with decision and precision the characters and types in individuals”.

He left his mark on his era and touched his contemporaries such as Vincent van Gogh who, through his correspondence with his brother Theo, showed great admiration for his work and his talent.
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from the text on the tissue paper, by J. Reading:

J’ai surtout mmoire d’un divertissement d’enfants, qui tait un ballet vritablement extraordinaire tant par la somptuosit de la mise en scne que par la pittoresque recherche des costumes et le nombre des sujets de la figuration. La Fort des Oiseaux rassemblait dans une ingnieuse fiction presque tous les genres d’oiseaux connus personnifis par de gracieuses petites ballerines dont la plus ge n’avait certes pas quinze ans. Et c’tait merveille de voir voluer cet essaim charmant et innombrable – plus d’un millier! – qui remuait, allait, volait, sautillait au milieu des pripties d’une action savamment rgle….. On finissait vraiment par subir l’illusion trange d’une peuplade d’oiseaux aux plumages multicolores vivant en libert dans le grandiose dcor d’une fort enchante….
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Important:

. The listing is for the original print, in the above mentioned very good / excellent condition.
. The original tissue paper introduction has some folds and tears, especially along the margins, and it will be given as is to the buyer as a gift for confirming the authenticity.
. The cover by Mucha is shown as a reference