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Premium Camille Chabroux Maison de ventes aux enchères
149
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Eugène Viala (1859-1913) Gestes de la terre.
See original version (French)
149
-
Eugène Viala (1859-1913) Gestes de la terre.
See original version (French)
Estimate €1,200 - €1,500
Voluntary lot
Description
Eugène Viala (1859-1913) Gestes de la terre. 25 etchings by E. Viala. 1911-1913. An oblong album [330 x 260 mm], in sheets, containing 25 prints including a title. Etching (with aquatint for the title). Costecalde 342 to 366. Very fine proofs on cream laid paper watermarked "Rives / Eug. Delâtre" followed by a table of subjects. Light foxing on verso of plate 25 and in the table. Full margins. Folded grey vellum cover, bearing the title repeated on the upper cover, with the pencil inscription "numéro 34" in the lower right-hand corner, the table repeated on the 3rd cover, with a few short tears and creases to the edges. Edition of 125 copies. "Born in 1859 in Salles-Curan (Aveyron), Eugène Viala was a multi-faceted artist, aquafortist, poet, painter and watercolourist. From 1877 to 1879, he studied at the Beaux-Arts in Montpellier, before moving to Paris in 1881 to attend the Académie Jullian, where he was a pupil of Ernest Hébert (1817-1908). From 1884 to 1889, he frequented the Montmartre and Montparnasse districts with a group of friends, all of whom were passionate about poetry, painting and ideals. He returned to Rodez in 1889 and worked as a photographer to support his family and bring up his four children. From 1890 to 1900, he alternated between Paris and Rodez to sell his work. This free-spirited, even anarchist, nature-loving artist led a tragically poor life, but never gave up his fierce will and creative fever, until Maurice Fenaille, a major industrialist and patron of Rodin, Camille Claudel and Bourdelle, came to support his work at the beginning of the 20th century. Eugène Viala died prematurely following an accident at the age of 54. [It was in the etching technique] that his art developed and found its uniqueness. Viala's etchings are divided into two main themes: biting visions, desolate allegories and more realistic, yet sombre landscapes, inspired by certain austere aspects of his native Lévezou. Here, Viala developed an undisguised taste for the figures of tormented trees, struggling against the elements. His prints are marked by a kind of dark romanticism shot through with dreamlike visions. [...]. The fantastic and visionary dimension of his work places Viala in the tradition of the painter-engravers who, from Francisco de Goya to Rodolphe Bresdin and Odilon Redon, were adepts of the suggestive power of black ink". (Taylor Foundation, Eugène Viala - La Cendre du rêve exhibition, 13 March-3 May 2025). The copies of this suite, published by Eugène Delâtre after the artist's death, were to have been signed sheet by sheet as announced on the title at the foot, but the artist died in an accident before he could do so.
See original version (French)
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Ref. : C00693 - 1
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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