Too Demanding (Exigeante)
1900
Medium
etching on Van Gelder Zonen wove paper
Dimensions
plate: 14 x 11.1 cm (5 1/2 x 4 3/8 in.) sheet: 45 x 31.6 cm (17 11/16 x 12 7/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Bell, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art
Accession Number
1990.95.1
Art Historical Context
Albert Besnard's *Too Demanding (Exante)*, created in 1900, the elegance of French fin-de-siècle artistry through the intimate medium of etching. This print, measuring a modest plate size of 14 x 11.1 cm on a larger sheet of 45 x 31.6 cm, showcases Besnard's mastery as a painter-turned-printmaker. A prominent French artist (1849–1934) and president of the Société des Beaux-Arts, Bes was renowned for his fluid, decorative style blending Symbolism with emerging modernist influences, often exploring themes of femininity and emotion in his portraits. Etching allowed Besnard to achieve exquisite d...
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...