Sleep (Jean-René Carrière), from L'Album d'estampes originales de la Galerie Vollard

1897

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Impressionism Realism Late 19th Century Nude

Dominant colour

Sleep (Jean-René Carrière), from L'Album d'estampes originales de la Galerie Vollard is a 1897 by Auguste Clot, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Auguste Clot
When & what style?: 1897 · Impressionism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

The painting shows a young boy sleeping. He's surrounded by soft, dark shapes. The artist used a unique technique to create this dreamy scene, covering the stone with ink and then wiping it away to make the paper show through. This approach gives the picture a gentle, quiet feel. The boy's face is calm and peaceful, lost in sleep. To learn more about this style, look up the technique of chiaroscuro.

The story of this work

Overview

Eugène Carrière developed an unusual approach to lithography, typically working from dark to light, as seen in this portrait of his young son Jean-René. Rather than drawing with a lithographic crayon, Carrière covered his entire stone with ink, which he then wiped and scraped away to create areas where the paper would show through when printed. Here, the visual effects of this technique combine with expressive, almost abstract forms to give the subject a fantastic, dreamlike atmosphere.

Read the full account in the museum source.