Boy Blowing Soap Bubbles - Édouard Manet

Albert Roullier Memorial Collection

"Boy Blowing Soap Bubbles" by Édouard Manet (late 1868/early 1869) Etching and aquatint, with roulette, with color applied à la poupée, on cream wove paper.

Commentary

"Boy Blowing Soap Bubbles" by Édouard Manet (late 1868/early 1869) 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. Themes t o notice include 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 Henri Charles Guérard (French, 1846-1897). The work is cataloged within a France cultural context. How to look at this work: It is cataloged as etching, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Etching and aquatint, with roulette, with color applied à la poupée, on cream wove paper) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (Image: 19.5 × 16.1 cm (7 11/16 × 6 3/8 in.); Plate: 25 × 21.1 cm (9 7/8 × 8 5/16 in.); Sheet: 37.9 × 26.3 cm (14 15/16 × 10 3/8 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include etching. Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/80873

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