Expo reveals more about 'Art de Paris'

By Izabel Deuff

JAKARTA (JP): A few commonly known facts about 19th century French art include sculpture by Rodin and painters, be they realistic (Ingres), impressionist (Manet, Degas, Courbet) or Postimpressionist (Gauguin, Cezanne).

Yet only a few people know that those painters and others of the period were also involved in the French printmaking which dominated Europe.

To acquaint people with this Art de Paris (Art from Paris), Dharma Mulia Antiques is organizing an exhibition of etchings, engravings and lithographs by French artists dating from the 18th century to the 20th century.

"We would like to avoid the usual oil canvas exhibition and stress the originality of those works that are still close to French spirit," said Frdric Mauri, the consultant to the firm.

The exhibition in the Shang Palace foyer of the Shangri-La Jakarta displays about 100 masterpieces. It will close on Oct. 29.

"In the 18th and 19th centuries, the engraving profession boomed because people didn't know any other way to reproduce the painters' creations in books," Mauri said.

The works were made through the intaglio engraving process, mostly preferred in the 18th and 19th centuries over relief printing.

The former method can produce various effects depending on the techniques used. In line engraving, the copperplate is incised by a burin. Then the blur is cleaned so the print is more precise. But, as the engraver has to push his tool, the designs are often formed of straight lines.

The drypoint technique, an alternative to intaglio, covers up this weakness. The engraver uses a sharp steel needle which is more easily handled and scratches the metal in unsmooth lines. The resulting design is a velvety one less precise than the line engraving.

Engraving themes are as varied as their creators. They include French landscapes, noble people meeting in a garden -- such as Conversation in a Park by Debois -- portraits of bewigged court noblemen and artists, genre scenes and animals. The latter subject was embodied by six works by Auguste-Andr Lanon, a famous 19th century engraver.

Most works are fashion plates representing women's clothing from the 19th century; flashy colored patterns of dresses, petticoats, corsets, skirts, crinolines and headdresses after the Parisian style.

Seven engravings are part of a series reproducing well-known paintings about Napoleon's deeds. Among them are The Emperor's Coronation. The 2nd of December 1804 painted by Jacques-Louis David and engraved by Johan Trangott Beyer, and Bonaparte Jaffa. The 11th of March 1799 painted by Antoine-Jean Gros and engraved by Jean-Jacques Frilley.

More than just presenting French 18th and 19th century society, the exhibition is also a starting point to learn more about the art of engraving.

The etching process is the easiest and the most all-around intaglio technique because the engraver can do whatever he wants. The copperplate is covered with an acid-resistant wax so, when dipped into acid, it only bites the parts that have been scratched. The used metal, the acid biting time and the width of the lines partake of the creation.

Engraving was so prevalent in the 19th century and the execution so alike that not one practitioner emerged as preeminent. Most of the engravers' names have slipped into obscurity.

Nevertheless, Emile Boilvin was extremely famous at the end of the 19th century for his etchings. He made several original ones but the one exhibited, Gathering in a Park (1896), is from a painting by Louis-Joseph Watteau.

Other etchings include The Emmas Pilgrims, made by Pieter de Frey in 1802 from Rembrandt's painting, and The Carpenter's Family, another painting by the Dutch artist that was engraved by Veyrassat in 1856.

"Before Rembrandt, engravers used a traditional way, but he stirred up everything in mixing line engraving, drypoint technique and etching which was largely developed after," said Mauri.

A few works (most of them of poor quality) are made from aquatint which creates an effect like a watercolor. In Scene During the "Directoire" (1924), Sauvage pictures a couple of Incroyables (Incredible) in a forest. Pastel blue and yellow of the clothes match with the green of the background. This work seems a little anachronistic since the recent works are usually lithographs.

Lithography is a printing process created in 1796 by Aloys Senefelder. The image is drawn with a greasy pencil on a smooth stone so that the surface of the design is ink-receptive when wet with water. No lines and relief can be seen or felt as the work looks like a drawing.

There are only six lithographs in this exhibition, three of which are colored.

"Engravings were colored in the mid-19th century. First, they were hand-painted. Then, the lithography, enabling to print color, increased the number of colorful masterpieces," Mauri said in front of Le pied de boeuf (The Cow's Foot) and La main chaude (The Hot Hand), two colorful original lithographs by Louis- Lopold Boilly.

A painter and engraver, Boilly was one of the best witnesses of French daily life during the period. Unknown when alive, he has been posthumously recognized for his skilled hand and the brightness of his colors.

Finally, heliography is represented by Bonaparte. First Consul (Visiting the Manufacture of Mister Sevenes at Rouen). "The gravure printing is almost photography and a process in which humans don't utilize anymore. But I would like to expose it to show the evolution of the techniques," Mauri said.