AUGUSTE RENOIR
(1841-1919)
This lithograph is acknowledged as Renoir’s masterpiece and probably the single most famous theme in his print oeuvre. He treated the subject on a number of occasions, first in drypoint (Delteil 8) with the composition reversed, then in etching (Stella 6-8) followed by two lithographic versions. In these later prints, Renoir experimented with the use of colour; the eight-colour lithographs are believed to have been trial proofs aside from the edition, which were printed in thirteen colours. Further proofs are known to exist in green and blue.
The theme of hat pinning was a favourite for Renoir. It stemmed from a sketch made when on holiday in Normandy in 1893 with the painter Berthe Morisot (1841-1895), (who was married to Manet’s brother), her daughter, Julie, and her cousin Paulette Gobillard. Julie, always a favourite model for Renoir, was having her hat-pin re-fixed by Paulette one day on the beach, a scene which so captivated Renoir that he reproduced it in pastel. An oil painting of the same subject executed in 1893 is in the Ryerson Collection, Chicago. There was a growing excitement among Renoir and his contemporaries at the turn of the century about the visual possibilities of lithography. In 1896, Renoir visited Clot’s studio to try working in chalk on stone. Using his experiences of Clot’s colour manipulation, Renoir experimented with different coloured inks, eventually developing the stone into a full colour print.
Extract taken from Prints, Cecil Higgins Art Gallery .