Three Breton Women with Infants - Armand Séguin

Purchased with funds provided by Edward McCormick Blair

"Three Breton Women with Infants" by Armand Séguin (1894) Woodcut in brown ink with letterpress above on discolored ivory laid paper hinged to tan laid paper.

Commentary

"Three Breton Women with Infants" by Armand Séguin (1894) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together. Themes to notice include woodcut. This piece is held in the source collection's Prints and Drawings colle ction. Armand Séguin is the artist behind this work. A useful anchor for reading the piece: Armand Séguin (French, 1869-1904) inscribed by Paul Gauguin (French, 1848-1903) poem by Charles Morice (French, 1861-1919). The work is cataloged within a France cultural context. How to look at this work: It is cataloged as woodcut, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Woodcut in brown ink with letterpress above on discolored ivory laid paper hinged to tan laid paper) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (Image: 22.9 × 18.6 cm (9 1/16 × 7 3/8 in.); Sheet: 34.8 × 22.3 cm (13 3/4 × 8 13/16 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include woodcut. Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/117697

Sources: Art Institute of Chicago; Art Institute of Chicago / Public Records; Art Institute of Chicago Collection Data