Modern Bucolic 1901

Auguste-Louis Lepère made this print, Modern Bucolic, at an unknown date, but I can see him feeling his way through a pastoral scene with a very particular palette. The ochres and pinks feel like a half-remembered sunset, or maybe a memory of a hot summer haze. I love the way the scene is built up from a series of marks, etching is a slow process, so you can see the artist working to coax the image out of the plate. Look at the way the figures at the front of the picture plane are built out of small details, the frills of a dress, the soft folds of fabric, everything rendered with a light, almost playful touch. The image seems to hint at a modern take on classical themes, perhaps Lepère is in dialogue with artists like Fragonard, but updated for an industrial age. For me, the piece embraces a sense of ambiguity, hovering between clarity and abstraction, the real and the remembered.