Flowers

Fleurs (original French title) 
Drypoint on laid paper.
Reference : Stein & Karshan 21. 
From the only edition of 100, published by L’Estampe Originale, bearing their blindstamp in the lower right corner. 
Signed and numbered “No 8” in pencil. 

Very fine impression in nearly perfect condition, aside from a few fox mark in the bottom sheet edge, well away from the image.  Wide margins, as is usual for this print. 

Morphine started to become a more commonly used drug, at first to treat newly discovered and named mental diseases.  The drug became increasingly used for recreational purposes as well, and like absinth, a bit of a societal phenomenon.  Some artists reflected on this with image of drug addiction, recreational use, or in the case of Duez, of making a depiction of heroin poppies, simply titled “flowers”; as if naming them by their real name somehow made them more dangerous or illicit.