$2,000
Les Tortues
RACHOU, Henri
Lithograph on simili-Japan wove paper, circa 1893. Reference: related to Stein & Karshan (L'Estampe Originale) 59. Unpublished composition, ver...
View full detailsHenri RACHOU
Henri Rachou (1855/56–1944) was a Toulouse-born artist who built a long career as both a painter and cultural leader in southern France. While living and working with his friend Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Rachou was part of the artistic circles in Montmartre, a vibrant bohemian area of Paris that attracted and inspired many artists of the time. But in 1903, he returned to Toulouse to serve as director of the Musée des Augustins and, soon after, the local School of Fine Arts—shaping the city’s artistic life for decades.
Although best known for his portraits and decorative panels, Rachou briefly engaged with the print revival of the 1890s. His most notable contribution was to a series of avant-garde color lithographs issued through L’Estampe originale. In these works, Rachou deftly uses a flat decorative stylization and symbolism, evoking both Puvis de Chavannes and the Japanese woodblock tradition.