The Breaking Waves, Tide of September 1901 | Cleveland Museum of Art

In the 1880s, Lepère was an early exponent of the woodcut as a fine art medium, experimenting with the technique and exhibiting his prints. His example probably encouraged Henri Rivière to produce woodcuts in the Japanese manner (see Wave in the Rain). In fact, Lepère and Rivière created the first French color woodcuts conceived and printed entirely in imitation of Japanese woodcut techniques. By 1890, woodcut would be taken up by the sculptor Aristide Maillol and such painters as Félix Vallotton and Paul Gauguin, and by 1895, a full-scale revival was underway.

The Technologies of Nineteenth-Century Illustration: Woodblock Engraving, Steel Engraving, and Other Processes