Les Trois Verres

Art Historical Context

In this lithograph, two men lean heavily over a long table that stretches across the foreground. One figure has collapsed forward, his head buried in his arms as he grips a dark bottle, while the other sits more upright, his hand resting near his chin in a posture of quiet fatigue. Three small glasses stand on the table’s surface, and the background is built from dense, directional strokes that suggest a dimly lit interior without revealing specific details. Edmund Blampied produced *Les Trois Verres* in 1925 as a lithograph on wove paper. The artist’s expressive line work and tonal contrasts capture a moment of shared stillness, emphasizing the weight of the figures and the reflective mood of the scene. Now in the Rosenwald Collection at the National Gallery of Art, the print demonstrates Blampied’s ability to convey human presence through economical yet powerful graphic means.