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Preliminary drawing for Spleen and Ideal or The Cab with Cupids
The drawing appears to be one of several studies for the painting on which the related print is based. This is typical of Buhot’s constant movement of compositional ideas from one medium to another with accompanying changes of format and detail. It…
Sunset in Barfleur
Like the painting Le Phare de Gatteville le soir, and presumably created around the same time, this is an impressionistic study of sky, water, and dark land masses, expressed in a sketchlike manner with no attempt at detail. Nevertheless, this is a…
The Place Pigalle in 1878
Buhot made two oil paintings of the Place Pigalle: one in 1878, a summer image; the second in 1879, showing almost the identical scene in the snow. The etching is taken from the former. Buhot chose not to surround the image with full or even partial…
A Landing in England
The location of this scene is Folkestone, long an important port in Kent on the English Channel. The weather is stormy, as it often is in Buhot’s prints, and as it often is in England. This impression is from the final state, after the illustrated…
A Pier in England
In this print Buhot essentially repeated the composition of A Landing in England in reverse, ostensibly because he had more to say about the subject. This first state of the print, almost pure drypoint, was printed in eighteen impressions, which vary…
Woman Reading by Lamplight
Principally preoccupied with the depiction of weather conditions, Buhot rarely etched an interior scene (except for book illustrations). But Woman Reading by Lamplight, with its direct and reflected lights and subtle intermediate tones, is a…
Woman amid Swans
Impressions of this print in its final state are not common, but those of the first (as here) and second states appear to be of the greatest rarity. Etched into the final state of the plate is the inscription “Souvenir de (“memory of”) Barham…
Marine Painter
The lonely painter, laden with his gear and trudging along the sand by the wave-encrusted sea, provides a melancholic but straightforward subject. It is transformed, however, into a fantastic image as creatures of the sea and air appear as…
Country Neighbors
The image is often described as Buhot’s most charming print, a portrayal of the archetypical French couple heading home in a rainstorm under a single umbrella. Buhot added detailed margins to the left, reflecting what might be found within the…
The Little Funeral
The appearance of funeral scenes in Buhot’s work may be attributed to his melancholic disposition, but there is another source as well. Buhot’s Paris studio was on the Boulevard de Clichy, and one side of that street was lined with houses…
Funeral Procession on the Boulevard de Clichy
Two impressions of Funeral Procession, ostensibly in the same state, are included because they are so distinct from one another. The difference is due to the choice of paper and the style of printing. The other impression is almost stark in its…
Spirits of Dead Cities
Victor Hugo was Buhot’s favorite poet, and this fantastic image was originally intended to be an illustration for an edition of Hugo’s Les Voix intérieures, les rayons et les ombres. The work is, however, more an evocation of Hugo’s poetry and…
The Owl
Le Hibou marks something of a summary and culmination of Buhot’s graphic work, even though it is not his last print, nor his last etching. Many of the elements that fascinated him through the years—cabs, ships, lanterns, umbrellas, village…
The Port of Seagulls
The view is of the harbor of Saint-Malo, apparently looking across the estuary toward the town of Dinard, distantly seen between the masts of the ships. With its symphonic margins focusing on the same elements as the principal subject—sailing…
The Place des Martyrs and the Jailhouse Tavern
The Place des Martyrs was a popular nighttime gathering place just down the street from Buhot’s studio on the Boulevard de Clichy. The Jailhouse Tavern, owned by a former convict who served time in a French penal colony, presented, as one might…
The Cliff-Bay of Saint-Malo
The basis of this print is a heliogravure after a watercolor by Buhot’s father-in-law, Henry Johnston. Heliogravure, a photomechanical reproductive technique, was only the beginning. Through a myriad of techniques employed over several states,…
Geese
One can assume that the location in this image is Normandy, for Buhot returned many times to his hometown. Comparison of two impressions (the first and final state) reveals how completely distinct they are, as if two different artists, working side…
Baptism in the Japanese Style
The first thing one notices about the work is that it is printed in two colors, with the little portrait standing out from the complex composition. Not all impressions are printed in this manner, with the artist choosing instead to use a black or…
The Owls' Castle and Bookplate of Léon Lerey
The imagery for this print was begun in 1877 on the right side of the composition as a bookplate for the bookseller Leon Lerey and was never completed. A few impressions were printed, and the plate was then put aside. Ten years later, Buhot retrieved…
A Street in Valognes
Numerous studies exist for an etching of the same title and composition, all realized, as might be expected, in reverse of the print. This drawing, executed in the same orientation as the etching, was thus likely completed by Buhot as an independent…
Night Patrol
In this second state (in the third state the plate is cancelled, signaling the end of its use by the artist), Buhot changes the image into a true night scene. The complex of techniques, particularly the stop-out (the use of varnish to prevent an area…
The Little Hunter
Buhot remembered the image of his Autumn Morning and decided, many years later, to return to the subject, but now in lithography. In contrast to the much smaller and earlier etching, the lithograph presents the appearance of a crayon drawing, far…