Ink and brown wash on paper. Ca. 1856. A fine example of Hugo’s experimental and enigmatic practice as a draftsman. 5.8 x 3.4 inches; 14.9 x 18.3 cm. Finely matted and framed to overall 11.25 x 14 inches; 36 x 30 cm. Provenance: Galerie Jan François Aittouarès, Paris; Private Collection, Paris. Exhibited: Paris, Maison de Victor Hugo, Du chaos dans le pinceau... Victor Hugo: Dessins, October 2000-January 2001, #243 [illustrated in exhibition catalogue, p. 300]
"These pen sketches—this repeated application of the motif—create an impression of depth. These simple lines, floating upon the sheet without delineating contours, evoke the most contemporary explorations of space in visual art." (Marie-Laure Prévost, about this drawing in Du chaos dans le pinceau exhibition catalogue , p. 402)
The poet, novelist, playwright and critic was a preeminent figure in the social, political and cultural life of 19th-century France. One of the greatest writers of all time, he was also an accomplished draftsman and produced a lesser known but remarkable body of works on paper. Hugo’s drawing practice was largely a private endeavor and although over 3,000 sheets by him survive today, they were rarely seen in public during his lifetime. Many were produced during his extended exile on the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey between 1852 and 1870. Théophile Gautier summarized Victor Hugo's drawings' force with these words: "If he wasn't a poet, Victor Hugo would be a first-class painter."
The present work is abstract and yet evocative of a mountainous landscape beyond a river; or, instead perhaps, of mountain waterfalls descending into a reflecting lake; or is it, rather, an evocation of waves? What we can say for certain, is that the artist’s idiosyncratic form of draftsmanship is here, as often in his oeuvre, in conversation with the transformative properties of water. In Hugo’s ink and wash drawings, we witness a phenomenon similar to that of water’s effect on stone. The drawings vacillate between the depiction of landscapes and architecture and the rendering of abstract forms and tâches (stains) and are characterized by Hugo’s spontaneous approach and receptiveness to the myriad possibilities of medium and materials. He often relinquished his compositions to chance by soaking or turning the paper, allowing the ink to pool into spontaneous shapes. He also added to the complexity of his images by using different found tools to manipulate the ink, including branches, leaves and even his own fingertips, which may indeed have been used in the present composition.
Ink and brown wash on paper. Ca. 1856. A fine example of Hugo’s experimental and enigmatic practice as a draftsman. 5.8 x 3.4 inches; 14.9 x 18.3 cm. Finely matted and framed to overall 11.25 x 14 inches; 36 x 30 cm. Provenance: Galerie Jan François Aittouarès, Paris; Private Collection, Paris. Exhibited: Paris, Maison de Victor Hugo, Du chaos dans le pinceau... Victor Hugo: Dessins, October 2000-January 2001, #243 [illustrated in exhibition catalogue, p. 300]
"These pen sketches—this repeated application of the motif—create an impression of depth. These simple lines, floating upon the sheet without delineating contours, evoke the most contemporary explorations of space in visual art." (Marie-Laure Prévost, about this drawing in Du chaos dans le pinceau exhibition catalogue , p. 402)
The poet, novelist, playwright and critic was a preeminent figure in the social, political and cultural life of 19th-century France. One of the greatest writers of all time, he was also an accomplished draftsman and produced a lesser known but remarkable body of works on paper. Hugo’s drawing practice was largely a private endeavor and although over 3,000 sheets by him survive today, they were rarely seen in public during his lifetime. Many were produced during his extended exile on the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey between 1852 and 1870. Théophile Gautier summarized Victor Hugo's drawings' force with these words: "If he wasn't a poet, Victor Hugo would be a first-class painter."
The present work is abstract and yet evocative of a mountainous landscape beyond a river; or, instead perhaps, of mountain waterfalls descending into a reflecting lake; or is it, rather, an evocation of waves? What we can say for certain, is that the artist’s idiosyncratic form of draftsmanship is here, as often in his oeuvre, in conversation with the transformative properties of water. In Hugo’s ink and wash drawings, we witness a phenomenon similar to that of water’s effect on stone. The drawings vacillate between the depiction of landscapes and architecture and the rendering of abstract forms and tâches (stains) and are characterized by Hugo’s spontaneous approach and receptiveness to the myriad possibilities of medium and materials. He often relinquished his compositions to chance by soaking or turning the paper, allowing the ink to pool into spontaneous shapes. He also added to the complexity of his images by using different found tools to manipulate the ink, including branches, leaves and even his own fingertips, which may indeed have been used in the present composition.