173 - Louis Valtat (1869–1952)

Louis Valtat (1869–1952) Four Women on the Quay. Circa 1895. Drawing. Indian ink and brush on thin buff-colored vellum, delicately mounted on thin Japanese paper. [499 x 323 mm]. Signed lower right. Small tear in the lower right corner of the sheet. Other larger tears along the left edge and in the upper left corner. Short tears along the edges. Handwritten annotation by Arsène Bonafous-Murat in the lower right corner on the reverse: “paid for and given to Anne,” followed by his initials. AABM stamp (Lugt 3075). This drawing is reproduced in *La Critique*, No. 24, February 20, 1896. It comes from the Marc Mouclier archive acquired by Arsène Bonafous-Murat in the late 1980s. Bonafous-Murat dedicated a catalog to this collection: *Artistes amis collaborateurs de L’Ymagier, La Revue blanche, La Critique, L’Omnibus de Corinthe, L’Epreuve,* Paris, May 1988, which lists 319 issues, 195 of which are devoted to Marc Mouclier. *La Critique* was a French literary and artistic periodical founded by Georges Bans in 1895 and discontinued in 1920. The mission statement published in this inaugural issue announces that “La Critique covers all forms of artistic expression (...), will promote young talent (...), and does not view itself as competing with other journals.” Poets such as Alcanter de Brahm contributed to the journal. Soon, *La Critique* began offering its readers supplements in the form of original lithographed posters, often designed by young artists, foremost among them Marc Mouclier, a pillar of the journal.