Auguste-Louis Lepère’s Loups de Mer is a lithographic reproduction of the original woodcut engraving made by the artist in 1895. The subject is the “Sea Wolves,” a colloquial expression for the shrimp fishermen active primarily on the northern coast of France in Normandy, near the North Sea. This later edition was published in a portfolio produced to accompany L’Estampe Moderne, a journal dedicated to the art of contemporary printmakers active in Paris. Each issue of the journal, which was published monthly between 1897 and 1899, cost 3.50 francs and included four original lithographs. The large print run—around 2,000—allowed for wide distribution of original artworks at an affordable price.
The son of a sculptor, the young Lepère began his training in the Paris studio of British engraver Joseph Burn-Smeeton and practiced both printmaking and painting. Lepère was instrumental in reviving the art of wood engraving throughout Europe in the late nineteenth century. He employed a broad range of color papers and experimented with combinations of processes, such as etching and wood engraving, in a single print. His graphic oeuvre encompasses some 150 etchings, more than 200 wood engravings, and 14 lithographs.
Claudine Dixon
2024
