1 - Eugène VIALA (1859–1913)

Eugène VIALA (1859–1913) Gestures of the Earth. 25 etchings by E. Viala. 1911–1913. An oblong album [330 x 260 mm], in loose sheets, containing 25 prints, including a title page. Etching (with aquatint for the title page). Costecalde nos. 342–366. Very fine prints on cream-colored laid paper with a “Rives / Eug. Delâtre” watermark, followed by a table of subjects. A few foxing spots. Water stains on plates 20 through 23 (affecting the subject) and 25 (on the right margin). Full margins. Case lined with gray vellum, bearing the title repeated on the top cover, with the notation in pencil “number 43” in the lower right corner; the table of contents repeated on the third cover, with a few minor imperfections along the edges. Printed in an edition of 125 copies. “Born in 1859 in Salles-Curan (Aveyron), Eugène Viala was a multifaceted artist—an etcher, poet, painter, and watercolorist. From 1877 to 1879, he studied at the Beaux-Arts in Montpellier, then moved to Paris in 1881 to study at the Académie Jullian; there, he was a student of Ernest Hébert (1817–1908). From 1884 to 1889, he frequented the Montmartre and Montparnasse neighborhoods with a group of friends, all passionate about poetry, painting, and ideals. He returned to Rodez in 1889 and worked as a photographer on the side to support his family and raise his four children. From 1890 to 1900, he divided his time between Paris and Rodez to sell his work. This free-spirited, even anarchistic artist, a lover of nature, led a tragically impoverished life, yet never abandoned his fierce determination or his creative fervor—until Maurice Fenaille, a major industrialist and patron of Rodin, Camille Claudel, and Bourdelle, came to support his work in the early 20th century. Eugène Viala died prematurely as a result of an accident at the age of 54. [It was through the technique of etching] that his art would develop and find its unique character. His engravings fall into two categories: biting visions and desolate allegories on one hand, and more realistic—yet nonetheless somber—landscapes on the other, inspired by certain austere aspects of his native region, the Lévezou. In these works, Viala displays an undisguised fondness for figures of tormented trees struggling against the elements. His prints are marked by a form of dark romanticism interwoven with dreamlike visions. […]. The fantastical and visionary dimension of his work places Viala in the tradition of painter-engravers—from Francisco de Goya to Rodolphe Bresdin and Odilon Redon—who were adept at harnessing the evocative power of black ink. ” (Taylor Foundation, exhibition Eugène Viala—La Cendre du rêve, March 13–May 3, 2025). The prints in this series, published by Eugène Delâtre upon the artist’s death, were to be signed sheet by sheet as indicated on the full-page title page, but the artist died as a result of an accident before he could do so. Expert: Hélène BONAFOUS-MURAT