The Convalescent, Madame Lepère
Medium
Woodcut from four blocks in water-based colors on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 40.8 × 29.9 cm (16 1/8 × 11 13/16 in.); Sheet: 53.6 × 36.4 cm (21 1/8 × 14 3/8 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
136957
Art Historical Context
In the Prints and Drawings department of the Institute of Chicago resides Louis Auguste Lepère's poignant 1892 woodcut *The Convalescent, Lepère*. This intimate portrait depicts the artist's wife during her recovery from illness, capturing a tender moment of quiet resilience amid the fin-de-siècle Parisian art scene. Lepère, a master French printmaker (1849–1918), was renowned for his detailed urban scenes and portraits, blending realism with a fresh appreciation for Eastern influences. Crafted from four woodblocks printed in water-based colors on cream laid paper (image: 40.8 × 29.9 cm), the...
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...