The Sea at Bognor - Theodore Roussel

Gift of Meg and Mark Hausberg

"The Sea at Bognor" by Theodore Roussel (1895) Color soft ground etching, inked à la poupée, with inkless intaglio on ivory laid paper.

Commentary

"The Sea at Bognor" by Theodore Roussel (1895) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together. The print-based method rewards close viewing, where line, texture, and contrast do most of the expressive work. Them es to notice include print. This piece is held in the source collection's Prints and Drawings collection. Theodore Roussel is the artist behind this work. A useful anchor for reading the piece: Theodore Roussel French, worked in England, 1847-1926. The work is cataloged within a France cultural context. How to look at this work: It is cataloged as print, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Color soft ground etching, inked à la poupée, with inkless intaglio on ivory laid paper) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (Image/sheet, platemark not visible: 9.3 × 14 cm (3 11/16 × 5 9/16 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include print. Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/214353

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