Fisherman's Quarter
Medium
Etching on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Image/plate: 19.3 × 24.5 cm (7 5/8 × 9 11/16 in.); Sheet: 24.1 × 29.3 cm (9 1/2 × 11 9/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
77821
Art Historical Context
**Fisherman's Quarter** (1915) by Louis Lepère invites visitors into bustling heart of a coastal fishing neighborhood, rendered with exquisite precision on cream laid paper. This intimate etching, measuring nearly 10 by 9 ½ inches, captures the weathered charm of narrow streets, humble dwellings, and maritime life—hallmarks of Lepère's affection for everyday French scenes. As a master of the late 19th- and early 20th-century etching in France, Lepère blended Realism with a poetic touch, evoking the textures of salt-worn walls and fishing gear through delicate lines. Etching, Lepère's preferre...
About the Artist
Louis Auguste Lepère · 1849–1918
Louis-Auguste Lepère (1849–1918) was born in Paris on November 30 to the sculptor François Lepère, immersing him early in the artistic world. At age thirteen, he apprenticed in the studio of the English wood engraver Joseph Burn-Smeeton, training there from 1862 to 1867, and later attended drawing courses under Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran at the Petite École (now École nationale supérieure des art...