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The Brothel

Maurice de Vlaminck

The Brothel

1900-1910

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Maurice de Vlaminck

The Brothel

1900-1910

Physical Qualities Woodcut, Sheet: 222 × 175 mm. (8 3/4 × 6 7/8 in.) Image: 228 × 180 mm. (9 × 7 1/16 in.)
Credit Line Nelson and Juanita Greif Gutman Fund
Object Number 2003.202
Several nude figures stand in a compressed space, their overlapping forms simplified to just a few lines and marks. Carved with his pocketknife, "The Brothel" was Maurice de Vlaminck’s first woodcut print, created when he was living with his friend and fellow Fauve André Derain in Chatou, France, just to the west of Paris. Vlaminck later recounted that he found the block of wood in the bathroom of their shared studio. Much like other French artists in the 19th century, such as Édouard Manet (1832–1883) and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901), Vlaminck depicted sex workers in several compositions during this period, revealing his interest in showing the reality of that profession.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2003; William Weston Gallery, London.
Wild Forms: Fauve Woodcuts
Kunstmuseum, Bern. Vlaminck (Bern: Kunstmuseum, 1961).
Comments: Catalogue and bibliography are based on the catalogue in preparation by Dr. Sigmund Pollag, Zurich.

von Walterskirchen, Katalin, Christine Havard (trans.). Maurice de Vlaminck, catalogue raisonné de l'oeuve gravé, gravures sur bois, gr avures sur cuivre, lithographies (Paris: Flammarion, 1974).

Vlaminck, Maurice de. Vlaminck, Master of Graphic Art: A Retrospective Exhibition of Graphic Works, 1905-1926; Chicago: R.S. Johnson -International Gallery, 1975; illust. #1, p. 7.

Pernoud, Emmanuel. L'Estampe des Fauves: Une esthetique du contraste; Paris: Hermann Editeurs des Sciences et des Arts, 1994; pp. 39 & 43, illust. # 14.

Signed: one

Inscribed: None

Artist

Maurice de Vlaminck

1875–1957

French, 1876-1958
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