Jacques VILLON
(1875 Damville – 1963 Puteaux)
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La Cigarette [The Cigarette] - 1901
Etching and aquatint printed in colours. Inscribed ’34 M.Jacques Villon’ and monogrammed in pencil by Eugène Rodrigues (1853-1928), then signed by the artist. Edition of 46. Published by L’Estampe Nouvelle, Paris. Framed.
Size of sheet: 63 x 45 cm.
Ginestet & Pouillon 59.
A superb impression of this lovely image with strong colours and full margins.
Jacques Villon: The Cigarette
The eldest brother of Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Villon traded in his given name (Émile Méry Frédéric Gaston Duchamp) in homage to Alphonse Daudet’s novel Jack (1876) and the French medieval poet François Villon.
Villon arrived in Paris in 1895. He attended Fernand Cormon’s studio on the Boulevard Clichy. In 1899, Villon joined the studio of the master printer Eugène Delâtre, where together with other young artists, he started experimenting with colour printing.
In 1896, Roger Marx (1859-1913) and the collector Eugène Rodrigues (1853-1928) founded the elite society L’Estampe Nouvelle, which published beautifully presented prints for its members, and added the best impressions to their own collections (Carvalho, Prints in Paris 1900, p.50). This impression was most probably in the collection of Rodrigues’ collection since he signed it as well.