EDOARD MANET
French, 1832-1883
The Absinth Drinker (Le Buveur d'absinthe), 1860
Etching and aquatint. 11 3/8 x 6 1/4 in. (28.9 x 15.9 cm)
Membership Purchase Fund. 61.99
Born into a relatively well-off middle class family, Manet was fortunate
to be able to choose a career in a field he enjoyed. Initially he joined
the studio of Thomas Couture, but he soon rebelled against this academic
training and began to produce images of everyday life that bridged the romanticism
of Delacroix and the realism of Courbet.
Though printmaking never seemed to be an important part of Manet's oeuvre,
he had a clear sense of its powerful immediacy. Inspired by Velasquez and
Goya, and caught up in the etching revival initiated by Cadart and his Société
des Aquafortistes, he created figures that mysteriously emerge from the
shadows, modeled with an intricate cross-hatching and shading. Without the
distraction of complex backgrounds his figures appear monumental.
The subject of this print was a tramp named Collardet, who modeled for
the painting of the same subject, now in Copenhagen. The dramatic effect
of this "street philosopher"-as Manet saw him-is simultaneously
powerful and sad. The atmosphere is murky and dense, made more so by the
cloud of aquatint enveloping the figure. The startling starkness of Collardet's
white face emerges, vulnerable and quiet.
Manet first worked on The Absinth Drinker in 186162, using
only a minimal etching line. At this time a few prints were pulled and printed
on hollande paper. Around 1868 he returned to the plate and added the aquatint.
This state was probably printed by Salmon in a very small edition. Salmon's
grandson Porcaboeuf began to pull proper editions around 1910.
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