The Englishman at the Folies-Bergères

L’Anglais au Folies-Bergères (original French title)

Color etching and aquatint on laid Arches paper.
Reference: From Pissarro to Picasso 155b.
Edition of 50. Signed and numbered in pencil.

NOTE : This is a very modern "in action" composition, indebted to recent developments in photography. Not only does Ranft conspicuously cut in half the redheaded woman in a red dress on the left, the patrons milling about in the background also have their faces cut off randomly by the three figures in the foreground. The glorious peacock feathers in the center of the composition are also not given the room needed to truly shine, while the woman in the gauzy dress in the foreground clearly tries to "rope in" the tourist. The interaction is awkward: are they about to embrace, or did he just place that armband around her wrist? In a nod to Renaissance paintings, notice the theater, with dancers on stage and the orchestra sketched, is shown through a window cutout. This could be in a Van Eyck or a Botticelli.