From 1893 to 1895, André Marty published and distributed L’Estampe originale, which sent portfolios of original prints to subscribersin nine quarterly installments. “He basically wanted to promote printmaking as what he called an original art form,” says Ellen Daugherty, assistant curator at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens. “It was pretty popular — still is — to buy a print that’s made after another work of art. … That was very common in France in the 19th century, and printmakers were very good at making those, but he wanted to encourage art collectors and the general public to also realize that there was this resurgence of printmaking as prints. So, in other words, the artists were making original works of art as prints. Yes, they were being made multiples, but they were not being translated from some other medium.”
For L’Estampe originale, Marty had 74 painters, sculptors, and printmakers from France, Switzerland, Belgium, England, and the United States create these prints in whatever fashion, of whatever subject they desired. Some artists carried recognizable names like Paul Gauguin and Lucien Pissarro; others have little known about them at all even today. Yet, when taken as a whole, the portfolio represents a vast range of styles, from the Impressionists to the Post-Impressionists. Daughtery adds, “The types of printmaking are really wide, so there are lots of lithographs because that’s sort of the great printmaking medium of the 19th century. But there are also woodcuts, etchings. There are a few prints that use embossing, so they’re raised, and you can really see it when you look at them. It’s kind of a remarkable group of things.”
By the end of its run, the project produced 95 works of art for 100 editions. Today, most of those editions have been broken apart, with certain prints selling for more than others, but five complete sets rest in museum collections. Another complete set is privately owned and is now on display at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens through January 11th. “It’s this remarkable exhibition of a single portfolio,” Daughtery says. “All of the prints in this show are number 25 out of 100, so it’s also never been broken apart.” Some complete sets, she says, have been put together using prints from different editions.
Since the exhibition’s opening in October, Daughtery says the public response has been “remarkable.” “We’ve had tons and tons of school groups who want to come and look. They’re very interested in teaching basic printmaking in some of the art classes. … And then many creative writing classes have come because the imagery is so interesting and sometimes really strange and evocative. You can you can tell many stories based on these images.
Daughtery adds, “Someone who comes to the show will find something that they want to look at, or maybe 20 things they want to look at, or maybe 95 things they want to look at. It is a big show. A lot of people, who’ve come and really liked it, have said to us, ‘I have to come back because I’ve only looked at 30 things and there’s so many more to look at.’ But it is really a fun show because you can find those things that really draw your eyes’ attention.”
“L’Estampe originale: A Graphic Treasure,” Dixon Gallery & Gardens, 4339 Park Avenue, through January 11.
