Les Revenants; La Pêche

Art Historical Context

Henri Rivière's *Les Revenants; La Pêche* (1890) is a captivating 5-color lithograph wove paper, measuring just 20.1 x 29.7 cm. Created during the height of fin-de-siècle Paris, intimate print captures a haunting coastal scene, likely inspired by Breton folklore where "les revenants"—ghostly returnees—emerge in a nocturnal fishing tableau titled *La Pêche* (The Fishing). Rivière, a master of French color lithography, drew heavily from Japanese ukiyo-e prints, emulating their flat colors, bold outlines, and atmospheric depth without relying on woodblocks. Lithography's significance here lies in its versatility for multi-color printing, allowing Rivière to layer subtle tones of twilight blues and ethereal whites on smooth wove paper. This technique revolutionized affordable art reproduction in the 1890s, bridging fine art and popular imagery amid the Post-Impressionist wave. Part of the National Gallery of Art's collection (gift of The Atlas Foundation), it exemplifies Rivière's Brittany series, blending realism with mysticism to evoke the rugged Celtic landscapes and spectral legends of France's northwest coast. Visitors will appreciate how this modest sheet transports us to a dreamlike shore, where fishermen and phantoms blur in misty harmony—a testament to lithography's power to whisper stories of the supernatural.

About the Artist

Henri Rivière · 1864–1951

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...