Félix Buhot’s etching and aquatint, “The Shrieker”, 1874

Félix Buhot (aka Félix Hilaire Buhot; Tohub [Buhot, in reverse]) (1847–1898)

“The Shrieker” (aka “Le Criard”; “The Screamer”), 1874, published in Paris by Alphonse Lemerre (1838-1912) as an illustration to Barbey d'Aurevilly's (1808–1889) “Une Vieille Maîtresse” (A Former Mistress).

Etching, aquatint and drypoint (with stop-out, salt lift ground, spirit ground and sulphur tint proposed by Jay McKean Fisher & Colles Baxter [1983]) on cream wove paper backed with a support sheet providing wide margins.

Size: (support sheet) 37.3 x 30.3 cm; (sheet) 19.2 x 13.6 cm; (plate) 12.6 x 8.3 cm: (image borderline) 10 x 6 cm.

Lettered in plate above the image borderline: (right) “T.II.P.117.”

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “F. Buhot inv. et aquaf.”; (centre) “Imp. A. Salmon.”; (right) “Lemerre, éd.”

State vi (of vi) with the addition of letters and page number; see Bourcard & Goodfriend (1979) addendum “Catalogue Additions and Revisions” cat. no. 106, state 6.

Bourcard & Goodfriend 104 (Gustave Bourcard & James Goodfriend 1979, “Félix Buhot: Catalogue Descriptif de son Oeuvre Grave”, New York, Martin Gordon, p. 59, cat. no. 104).

See also Jay McKean Fisher & Colles Baxter 1983, “Félix Buhot Peintre-Graveur: Prints, Drawings, and Paintings”, The Baltimore Museum of Art (exh. cat.), cat. no. 66f, p. 107.

The British Museum offers a description of this print in its third state: “A man running on a shore with his hands over his ears; a winged demon riding a black horse appears in the stormy sky, on the right; marginal sketches ('marges symphoniques') on all sides; third state, with additional aquatint and drypoint work. c.1874/80 (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1904-0219-64).

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper providing wide margins. Beyond slight toning to the margin edges and a bumped lower right corner, the sheet is in a very good condition with no tears, holes, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this tiny and darkly wonderful etching of a figure screaming on a beach while a ship sinks in the distance and a ghostly figure is seen in the sky, for the total cost of AU$237 (currently US$162.96/EUR153.42/GBP1355.09 at the time of 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.

If you are interested in purchasing this precious little etching, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.