Suicide, plate eleven from Woman
c. 1886
Medium
Etching and aquatint on cream Japanese paper
Dimensions
Plate: 31.8 × 24.7 cm (12 9/16 × 9 3/4 in.); Sheet: 33.9 × 24.7 cm (13 3/8 × 9 3/4 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
27852
Art Historical Context
Albert Besnard's *Suicide*, plate eleven from the series *Woman* (c. 1886), captures the French artist's fascination with the dramatic and emotional depths of femininity during the fin-de-siècle era. A leading figure in late 19th-century French art, Besnard blended Symbolist tendencies with academic precision, often exploring themes of passion, tragedy, and the human psyche. This poignant etching portrays a moment of profound despair, reflecting broader cultural anxieties about women, modernity, and mortality in post-Impressionist Paris. Printed in etching and aquatint on luxurious cream Japa...
About the Artist
Albert Besnard
Paul-Albert Besnard, known as Albert Besnard, was born on June 2, 1849, in Paris to an artistic family: his father, Louis Adolphe Ferdinand Besnard, was a history painter and pupil of Ingres, while his mother, Marie Louise Pauline Vaillant, was a noted miniaturist trained under Lizinska de Mirbel. Precociously talented, he began his training under Jean-François Brémond before entering the École de...