At the Café (unpublished plate) - Édouard Manet

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward McCormick Blair and Stanley Field Fund

"At the Café (unpublished plate)" by Édouard Manet (1874) Gillotage in black on ivory China paper.

Commentary

"At the Café (unpublished plate)" by Édouard Manet (1874) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together.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. T hemes to notice include relief etching. This piece is held in the source collection's Prints and Drawings collection. Édouard Manet is the artist behind this work. A useful anchor for reading the piece: Édouard Manet (French, 1832-1883) printed by Lefman et Compagnie (French, 19th century). The work is cataloged within a France cultural context. How to look at this work: It is cataloged as relief etching, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Gillotage in black on ivory China paper) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (Image: 27 × 33.9 cm (10 11/16 × 13 3/8 in.); Sheet: 32.5 × 48.2 cm (12 13/16 × 19 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include relief etching. Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/109689

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