Coup de vent, la vague vient de taper et retombe en cascades [Tréboul] (Gust of Wind, the Wave Has Hit and Falls in Cascades)
1892
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
color woodcut
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
Accession Number
1974.65.1
Art Historical Context
Henri Rivière’s 1892 color woodcut *Coup de vent, la vague vient de taper et retombe en cascades [Tréboul]* captures a dramatic moment along the Brittany coast, where a sudden gust sends seawater cascading back into the waves. The French artist, deeply influenced by Japanese ukiyo-e prints, used the medium of color woodcut to translate the fleeting energy of wind and water into bold, flattened forms and layered hues. Printed in multiple colors from separate blocks, the work reflects the late-nineteenth-century fascination with Japonisme and the technical revival of woodcut as a modern art form...
About the Artist
Henri Rivière
Henri Rivière (1864-1951) stands as a pioneering figure in European printmaking, particularly recognized as the father of color lithography and color woodcut techniques in the West. Born in Paris during the Second Empire, Rivière achieved distinction in two distinct artistic realms: as the creator of innovative shadow theater performances at the legendary Chat Noir cabaret, and as a printmaker who...