Hotspur🏳️🌈🇺🇦"The Bath," Felix Vallotton, 1894.
Swiss-born painter, writer, and printmaker Vallotton (1865-1925) was a member of my favorite art movement, the Nabis,, but also an important figure in bringing woodcuts to the modern age.
His early work was very detailed, but in the 1890s he began to explore using simple black-and-white coloring and opting for outlines and blocks of shade, rather than detail....which the Nabis encouraged.
His woodcuts could contain elements of social satire and commentary, although none of that seems evident here. Other woodcuts showed assorted domestic scenes, images of couples (possibly in clandestine affairs), portraits that bordered on caricature, and a number of images of anarchist street demonstrations. He also did a number of prints as book illustrations and theater programs.
After the Nabis drifted apart in 1900, he stuck to painting, with great success, but thanks to him, other printmakers began to experiment with woodcuts, bringing into a new century.
From the Clark, Williamstown, MA.
