Description
The twelve sheets are working proofs of Dezaunay's etching
Messe en Bretagne (Mass in Brittany). Included are impressions with notations by the publisher, Edmond Sagot, and by the printer, Eugène Delâtre, as well as proofs
from each color plate and proofs from the canceled plates. The proofs document the process of color printmaking using multiple
plates.
Background
The French painter and printmaker Émile (Émile-Alfred-Marie) Dezaunay was born in Nantes in 1854 into a family of wealthy
merchants. His mother was a first cousin of the writer, Jules Verne. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris under
Jules-Élie Delaunay, a painter from Nantes, and under Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. While in Paris, he was initiated to printmaking
by Eugène Delâtre. In 1890 he traveled to Pont-Aven with a friend, Maxime Maufra, where they met Paul Gauguin who had a profound
influence on their work. Beginning in 1892, he frequented other artists at Maufra's studio at the Bateau Lavoir in Montmartre
and later became one of the founding members of the Salon d'Automne. After 1909, he returned to Nantes and lived there until
his death in 1938.