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Summer

Print
1890-1900 (made), 1897-1899 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This framed print belongs to a set of colour prints made by painter and etcher Theodore Roussel in the 1890s. Each print was the result of considerable experimentation and is printed in colours ground and mixed by the artist. Each is mounted on one of two etched mounts also designed by the artist and printed in a range of colours selected especially for the image. The mounts are paired with two frame patterns again designed, etched and printed by the artist in a range of colours especially selected for the ensemble. According to Roussel, he did this arrangement to create "a harmony of colour, each proof so presented being the result sometimes of as many as twenty four or even a greater number of printings."* The mounted and framed prints were exhibited for the first time at the Goupil Gallery in 1899. This is the only known surviving complete framed set. They came from 'a house in Parson's Green', which is where Roussel lived, and are likely to have been the set in his house.

Roussel was born in Britanny and educated in Paris. In 1874 he moved to England. It was at Whistler's suggestion that he took up etching, developing the master's highly personal and private vision into public decorative works intended for the domestic interior. His approach to colour printing was revolutionary and fundamental to printing in colours in the twentieth century. In 1910 he became the first President of the Society of Graver Printers in Colour. This set, issued at the end of the nineteenth century, has a key place in the development of the print from the private 'portfolio' works to public pieces with a decorative role akin to painting.

Reference: *'Roussel's Note and Catalogue of Original Etchings printed in colours, Exhibited at Goupil's, July 1899', reproduced in Mackay, Appendix III (see references).


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleSummer (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Colour etching, aquatint and lavis; Mount - Etching, aquatint, softground and drypoint; Frame - Etching, aquatint and softground
Brief description
Theodore Roussel, Summer, colour etching, aquatint and lavis, one of a set of 9 colour prints, in 'Shell' pattern mount and 'Lotus' pattern frame designed by the artist; print 1890-1900; frame design 1897-99.
Physical description
Print entitled Summer, surrounded by a Shell pattern mount printed in Summer Green and gold, in Lotus pattern frame printed in rose, green, yellow and gold.

Four proofs of the frame design are in the V&A's collection, object numbers E.1480-1991 to 1483-1991.
Dimensions
  • Etching height: 168mm
  • Etching width: 122mm
  • In frame height: 502mm
  • In frame width: 413mm
  • Frame depth: 20mm
Marks and inscriptions
  • Theodore Roussel (Signed on plate, printed in gold ink)
  • Th. R (Signed on back of frame in ink)
  • Summer (Inscribed on back of frame)
Credit line
Purchased with Art Fund support, the Vallentin Trust and the Friends of the V&A
Object history
R.P. 90/2347.
Impressions of E.1471-1479-1991 and proofs of the Lotus and Stag and Flower pattern frames were exhibited at London, Goupil and Co., Original Etchings Printed in Colours by Theodore Roussel July 1899. The nine prints E.1471-1479-1991 is the only known set of these prints in their colour frames and is the set referred to on page 18 of Hausberg's catalogue raisonné.
Reported to have come from a house in Parsons Green where the artist had a house.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This framed print belongs to a set of colour prints made by painter and etcher Theodore Roussel in the 1890s. Each print was the result of considerable experimentation and is printed in colours ground and mixed by the artist. Each is mounted on one of two etched mounts also designed by the artist and printed in a range of colours selected especially for the image. The mounts are paired with two frame patterns again designed, etched and printed by the artist in a range of colours especially selected for the ensemble. According to Roussel, he did this arrangement to create "a harmony of colour, each proof so presented being the result sometimes of as many as twenty four or even a greater number of printings."* The mounted and framed prints were exhibited for the first time at the Goupil Gallery in 1899. This is the only known surviving complete framed set. They came from 'a house in Parson's Green', which is where Roussel lived, and are likely to have been the set in his house.

Roussel was born in Britanny and educated in Paris. In 1874 he moved to England. It was at Whistler's suggestion that he took up etching, developing the master's highly personal and private vision into public decorative works intended for the domestic interior. His approach to colour printing was revolutionary and fundamental to printing in colours in the twentieth century. In 1910 he became the first President of the Society of Graver Printers in Colour. This set, issued at the end of the nineteenth century, has a key place in the development of the print from the private 'portfolio' works to public pieces with a decorative role akin to painting.

Reference: *'Roussel's Note and Catalogue of Original Etchings printed in colours, Exhibited at Goupil's, July 1899', reproduced in Mackay, Appendix III (see references).
Associated objects
Bibliographic references
  • Mackay, A.E. The Etchings of Theodore Roussel. A Catalogue Raisonné of Plates, States and Impressions Printed in Monochrome and Colour from Original Etchings in Aquafort and Drypoint etc. With the Artist's Notes on Printing in Colour and Formulae of Tones. Unpublished, see registered papers 90/2347. Col. 3.
  • Hausberg, Margaret Dunwoody. The Prints of Theodore Roussel, A Catalogue Raisonné. Bronxville, 1991, print No. 143, mount design No. 168, frame design No. 162.
Collection
Accession number
E.1471-1991

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Record createdMarch 2, 2009
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