Auguste Lepère, “La France”, 1912, after Rodin

Auguste Lepère (aka Auguste Louis Lepère) (1849–1918)

“La France”, 1912, wood-engraving  printed from two plates in an edition of 130 impressions (this is copy number 104) after Auguste Rodin’s (aka Pierre Auguste Rodin) (1840–1917) high-relief monument to the explorer, Samuel Champlain (1574–1635)—interestingly, the sculpture was modelled on the superb sculptress and Rodin’s muse, Camille Claudel (1864–1943)—on the exterior wall of the lighthouse at Crown Point (aka Chimney Point), New York (see Janet Biehl [2023], “The Rodin Sculpture at Crown Point” [https://www.aflcr.org/the-rodin-sculpture-at-crown-point/]), pencil signed at lower-right and numbered (104/130) at lower-left.

Wood engraving printed in pale tan (olive-brown) and dark tan on tissue-thin China paper (papier serpente) and backed with a support sheet

Size: (sheet) 30.6 x 23cm; (image borderline) 15.1 x 11.5cm.

Lettered in plate: (left) “A^.Lepère/ d’après”; (lower left of centre) “A/ RODIN”; (upper centre) “LEXX JVILLET MDCIX LE FRANCAIS S. CHAMPLAIN/ A DECOVVERT LE LAC OVI PORTE SON NOM/ LE III MAI MIMXII/ LES ETATS DE/ NEW YORK ET/ DEVERMONT/ ELEVANT CE/ MONVMENT/ VNE DE-/ LEGATION FRANCAISE/ A SCELLE/ CETTEFIGVRE/ DE LA/ FRANCE”.

Pencil inscribed below the image borderline: (left) “104/130”; (right) [signature of the artist; compare with: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/auguste-lepere-1849-1918-signed-wood-engraving-%20%20%20%201317-c-b8a499e91c].

Texier-Bernier 526 (GM Texier-Bernier 1931, “Auguste Lepere: Peintre et Graveur”, Paris, cat. no. 526).

See also the description of this print offered by the Art Institute of Chicago: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/33307/france.

Condition: a strong and near faultless impression with wide margins laid upon an archival support of millennium quality washi paper. Beyond a small tear to the lower right corner of the margin, the sheet is in an excellent condition with no holes, folds, abrasions or stains.

I am selling this remarkable pencil signed wood-engraving printed from two printing blocks after an almost forgotten sculpture by Rodin attached to a former lighthouse in New York—surprisingly, the sculpture was so forgotten that as late as 2006 even “the Rodin Museum in Paris had been unaware of it” (see Janet Biehl [2023], op. cit.)—for AU $279 in total (currently US $172.88/ EUR 167.74/ GBP 140.69 at the time of posting this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries. Note that payment is in Australian dollars (AU $279) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this very beautiful wood-engraving that I understand (and may be very wrong) showing the personification of France as a liberty leading woman, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.