Three Bathers

This method reflects the artist’s shift toward simplification during his involvement with the Nabis, while retaining a precise, almost academic draftsmanship.

Executed as a woodcut, Vallotton employed broad, flat areas of tone and decisive line work, characteristic of his modern approach to the medium. The print’s limited palette, dark lines against a light paper background, highlights the graphic quality of the image. This method reflects the artist’s shift toward simplification during his involvement with the Nabis, while retaining a precise, almost academic draftsmanship.

Félix Vallotton, a Swiss‑French artist linked to the Nabis group, produced the piece during a period when he was exploring new possibilities in printmaking. The woodcut was created on beige wove paper, a material he favored for its smooth surface. It entered public collections in the early twentieth century, illustrating Vallotton’s contribution to the revival of the woodcut in modern art.

The print emerges from the late nineteenth‑century revival of interest in graphic arts, where artists like Vallotton sought to merge traditional techniques with contemporary aesthetics. Influences from earlier masters such as Holbein and Ingres are evident in the disciplined line work, while the Nabis’ emphasis on decorative simplification informs the work’s flat planes and restrained color scheme.