Tête de Femme

Color lithograph on laid japon paper.

Reference: Johnson 2. Edition of 100, but quite scarce these days.
Published for "L’Album d’Estampes Originales de la Galerie Vollard", Paris.
Signed and numbered in black crayon (the numbering lower on the sheet).

A few scattered flecks of faint foxing, which really don't interfere with the overall appeal of this beautiful lithograph, which has fresh and strong colors. A few creases in the margins.

NOTE: The Romantic movement laid the groundwork for the Belle Epoque and the Art Nouveau artistic movements. By turning their attention to depictions of emotional experiences, artists of the late 1700s and early 1800s paved the way for art with subjects that were evoking feelings. Combined with an increased interaction between women and men in modernizing cities, and a large bourgeoisie that afforded elegant dress, women became a major form of inspiration in the arts. The "femme-fleur", literally the "woman-flower" permeates the arts of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Artists both depicted the elegance of the female form in nature, among flowers, at times becoming one with its surroundings, or echoing its attractive sinuous lines. The beauty of creation found in nature was being personified by women in nature. This "portrait", of an unidentified, and probably idealized woman by Aman-Jean is a great example of the femme-fleur. A woman, whose pale skin and light-colored dress sleeve contrast with its surrounding, is entangled in a swirl of lines. Flowers and vines are suggested, but it mostly feels like she is one with an artistic maelstrom of her own making. She is the force of nature; seemingly at its very core. This color lithograph, one of only a handful Aman-Jean drew, was published by Ambroise Vollard, the famous publishers of color lithographs in Paris at the tun-of-the-century (think Edouard Vuillard, Pierre Bonnard, etc…).