Studio: international art (78.1919)

THE LITHOGRAPHS OF HENRI
FANTIN LATOUR. BY FRANK
GIBSON, 0 0 0 0 0

IN the year 1861, the shop of a Parisian
firm of print - sellers, Cadart and
Chevalier, in the Rue de Richelieu, had
become the meeting-place of a little group
of young artists. They were Bracque-
mond, Edward Manet, Legros, Ribot,
Vollon, Jacquemart, and Fantin Latour,
names mostly quite unknown at that time
to the public. They used to come here
to discuss art matters and make plans for
the future. Cadart, an enterprising busi-
ness man, generally undertook to find the
capital for any new venture the young

artists proposed. Some of them being
interested in etching, got him to bring
out a publication called ** Societe des
Aqua-fortistes,” of which the first number
appeared in 1862. Fantin was a founda-
tion member of this Society, and did two
plates for the magazine, but only one was
published in it. These were the only
etchings he ever did, the medium did not
seem to interest him very much. Some
of the members of the Society had ex-
pressed a curiosity about lithography,
one of their members, Bracquemond,
having already tried his hand at it. So
one day Cadart sent out three lithographic
stones to Manet, Legros, Bracquemond,
and Fantin, with instructions to draw any-

“ BOUQUET DE ROSES." ORIGINAL
LITHOGRAPH BY H. FANTIN LATOUR

(From a print in the collection of Sir R.. L.
Harmsworth, Bart.)

LXXVIII. No. 322.—January 1920

133