Silence (Femme Cournnée d'épines)
Lithograph printed in colors, 1897, I.F.F. 2, edition 100. 19 1/2 x 12 3/4 in. Signed on the stone, lower right. Signed and numbered in pencil. This is a superb impression printed on china paper. The margins are full and the condition is fine. This work was published by Vollard for L'Album d'Estampes Originales de la Galerie Vollard. Silence is an outstanding example of symbolist printmaking in late 19th century France. Martin did very few prints and this is the finest. "The theme of silence was meant to suggest the inarticulate essence of the soul. Women were favored as subjects in art and often closely associated with death at the end of the 19th century.... The withered thistle, like her crown of thorns, denotes pain and death. The work's sense of confinement and isolation invokes the artistic notions of suffering and solitude, popular among Symbolist artists." (see page 43 of Strategic Ambiguity, The Obscure, Nebulous, and Vague in Symbolist Prints (2013), ed. by Carmen Vendelin. Included with this color impression is a trial proof printed in black and gray and a cancelled impression of the image in black ink only. Ex-collection: Henri M. Petiet (Lugt 5031).
SOLD