L'anse de Bilfot

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Maxime Maufra , French, 1861-1918

Title

L'anse de Bilfot

Date1893

MediumEtching and aquatint on laid paper

Dimensions

Sheet: 30.1 × 44 cm

Plate: 28.9 × 35 cm

Credit LinePurchased, 2024

Object numberNGI.2024.11

DescriptionFor this dramatic composition, Maufra chose a vantage point high over the cove at Bilfot on the northern coast of Brittany. The mark-making is bold and confident, with the rocky landscape, sky and sea rendered through regular and irregular hatched lines. In this etching, the first state of four, he appears to have used two plates joined together to make the print. An impression of the second state is in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. At least two related works exist, a painting ‘Anse de Bilfot à Plouézec près de Paimpol’ and a pastel, both dated 1893. Maufra regularly worked in the open air and the roughness and vitality of the mark-making seems to indicate that this image was probably begun out of doors in front of the scene. Maufra’s writings underline his affinity for ‘Symbolist’ landscape. He rejected the naturalistic copying of nature in favour of expressive works that reflected his feelings about and sensitivity to a scene. As seen in this print, in expressing his feelings in response to a subject, Maufra often distorted, exaggerated, and re-arranged forms to capture something of the spiritual sensation he experienced.
ProvenanceBy descent in the artist's family; Purchased, Sam Josefwitz, 1987; Purchased 2024