128 - Félix Buhot (1847–1898)

Félix Buhot (1847–1898) Study page—draft for *Le Journal des Arts*. 1884. Drawing. Pen, India ink, and wash on a sheet of cream-colored, re-sized vellum. [220 x 277 mm]. A few light foxing spots and crease marks. AABM stamp (Lugt 3075). An interesting study page in which the artist sketches out the composition of articles or a book, likely in connection with the major media campaign he launched in favor of establishing print galleries in provincial museums, which was the subject of an article he wrote for the *Journal des Arts* on November 25, 1884. “To bring his ideas to fruition—ideas that would later be taken up by Paul Leroi, but on a much larger scale—Félix Buhot proposed using the resources of the Chalcographie du Louvre, “that vast repository of prints,” which owned the engraved copper plates and could supply reproduction engravings at low cost. The second request, Buhot wrote, would go directly to Mr. Henriquel, President of the engraving society, “[whom] we will ask to support a fledgling enterprise by donating a few pieces from the company’s portfolio; this company, founded in 1868 by Émile Galichon, President of *La Gazette des Beaux-Arts*, has produced works of great value through the engraver’s burin (François Gaillard, Huot, Rousseau).” Finally, the third appeal should be made, through the *Journal des Arts*, to artists and three major Parisian publishers.” (Pauline Prevost-Marcilhacy, “The Creation of Engraving Studios in the Provinces under the Third Republic: An Example of Artistic Decentralization,” in Sophie Raux, Nicolas Surlapierre, and Dominique Tonneau-Ryckelynck, eds., L’Estampe, un art multiple à la portée de tous, Lille, Presses du Septentrion, p. 200). The following information appears on the page: At the top of the sheet: - Old Section - Mariette’s Collections - Rembrandt’s Prints - Rembrandt the Printer - Turpentine Printing - Modern Section - This Will Kill That - The obsession with etching at every turn nearly killed the vignette edition—the processes of heliogravure and photogravure will revive it... - History of the Vignette Publisher from 1830 to 1840 - A Visit to an Old Print Dealer - Notes on the Drawings and Etchings of O. Penguilly L’Haridon At the bottom of the page: - Why do corrections add so much mysterious charm to rough sketches? I have just become convinced of this. - IV - Print Galleries in Provincial Museums—Notes and Comments—Remarks by a Framer - The Life and Death of Two Branches of Art—The Funeral of the Etching. Other handwritten reflections on the last page, mentioning Champfleury, Poulet-Malassis, Enamels, and Cameos...