Galerie Paul Prouté

Pierre-Auguste Renoir took up printmaking relatively late in his career. At a time when printmaking was undergoing a major revival in France from the 1880s and 1890s onward, the artist, already well established as a painter, did not produce his first etchings and drypoints until late in his career. Unlike some professional printmakers, Renoir did not regard printmaking as an end in itself, but rather as an extension of his work as a draughtsman and painter. His printed oeuvre, comprising around twenty-five engravings and some sixty lithographs, is distinguished by a distinctly graphic approach. He particularly favored techniques such as soft-ground etching and lithographic wash, which enabled him to preserve the spontaneity and fluidity of his drawing. This practice developed within a context in which lithography was enjoying growing popularity among the public and publishers, who commissioned numerous artists to meet the demand for original prints.