Tête de femme (Head of a Woman)
Medium
woodcut in black on wove paper
Dimensions
image: 11.2 x 10.9 cm (4 7/16 x 4 5/16 in.) sheet: 38.1 x 27.9 cm (15 x 11 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Virginia and Ira Jackson Collection, gift in memory of Virginia H. Jackson
Accession Number
1996.151.95
Art Historical Context
Henri-Charles Guérard's *Tête de femme (Head of a Woman)* created in 1895, is striking example of late 19th-century French printmaking. This intimate woodcut in black ink on smooth wove paper features a delicately rendered female head within a compact image size of just 11.2 x 10.9 cm (4 7/16 x 4 5/16 in.), set on a larger sheet of 38.1 x 27.9 cm (15 x 11 in.). The scale invites close viewing, emphasizing the subject's contemplative expression through bold contrasts and fluid lines. Woodcuts, a relief printing technique where the artist carves away negative space from a wood block to leave ra...
About the Artist
Henri-Charles Guérard · 1846–1897
Henri-Charles Guérard (1846–1897) was a French printmaker and painter who became one of the leading figures of the etching revival that swept through France and Britain in the second half of the nineteenth century. Born in Paris, he trained in the city's vibrant artistic milieu and developed close friendships with the Impressionist circle, most notably Édouard Manet and Eva Gonzalès, whom he marri...