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The Spirit of the Ruins


L'âme des ruines
Valère Bernard (French, 1860–1936)

Medium/Technique Etching and aquatint, one of six
Dimensions Image: 19.1 x 17 cm (7 1/2 x 6 11/16 in.)
Sheet: 62 x 44.5 cm (24 7/16 x 17 1/2 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo
Accession Number2010.1316.5
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrintsPortfolios
Known also as le Sommeil des Choses
([Paris], l'Ymagier, 1896) 63 cm; original tan wrapper with letterpress, etching on front cover ("Enfant prodigue") and back cover ("cul-de-lampe"- woman's head in profile); six etchings loosely inserted; and one additional etching, another impression of the cul-de-lampe, on a different paper. L'Ymagier was an Illustrated journal published from October 1894 to December 1896; MFA owns seven (of eight total) issues (1989.177-1989.183). Rémy De Gourmont and Alfred Jarry were the editors, and contributed many texts. The journal was creditied with the revival of the woodcut. They also printed editions of the work of many symbolist artists, including Gauguin,Robertson, Emile Bernard and the douanier Rousseau.

Description([Paris], l'Ymagier, 1896) 63 cm; original tan wrapper with letterpress, etching on front cover ("Enfant prodigue") and back cover ("cul-de-lampe"- woman's head in profile); six etchings loosely inserted; and one additional etching, another impression of the cul-de-lampe, on a different paper.
Signed Artist's monogram, ll in plate: VB
Signed in graphite, lr in margin: Valère Bernard
ProvenanceBetween the 1950s and 1980s, acquired by Samuel Josefowitz, Lausanne, Switzerland and Whitchurch, England; March 19, 2004, sold by Josefowitz to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Marblehead, MA and Naples, FL; 2010, year-end gift of Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 26, 2011)