The Wave (La vague)
April-June 1894
Medium
Lithograph in green on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 61 × 43 cm (24 1/16 × 16 15/16 in.)
Classification
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
248916
Art Historical Context
Henri Gustave Jossot's *The Wave (La vague)*, crafted between April and June 1894, is a lithograph in green ink on cream laid paper measuring 61 × cm. This monochromatic print captures the essence of 19th-century French arts, a period when lithography flourished as a versatile medium for artists blending fine art with illustration. Jossot, a prominent caricaturist and draftsman active in Paris, likely drew on the era's fascination with nature's power and fluidity, evoking the dramatic waves popularized in Japonisme and Symbolist influences. Lithography's tinted process here produces subtle g...