Original lithograph 'La pointe de Bretteville' by Paul Berthon

Paul BERTHON 
(Villefranche-sur-Saône 1872 – 1934 Sceaux)
The Point of Bretteville
1899
original lithograph printed in colors
33.5 x 65 cm; 46 x 89 cm
signed ‘Paul Berthon’ at the top right in the plate. Titled ‘La pointe de Bretteville’ at the bottom right. All margins.
 

in an Art Nouveau frame in wood and embossed tin decorated with peacocks
 

Bibliography:
V. Arwas, Berthon & Grasset, Academy Editions, London, 1978, p. 106 (illustrated)
 

Paul Berthon first studied with Luc-Olivier Merson and Puvis de Chavannes. It was then at the Guérin School, with Eugène Grasset, that he moved towards a resolutely Art Nouveau style. Berthon strives to personify through his work the rich fusion of poetic and romantic tendencies, as well as a dialogue between the Middle Ages and the East very characteristic of the fin de siècle movement.
Just like Grasset, whose practice had a profound impact on him, Berthon strives to isolate the forms of his works using a more or less powerful outline. 
In 1899, the artist executed a rare series of lithographs representing landscapes. The first of these is Notre-Dame seen from the Seine. Very quickly, he proposed a series of horizontal seascapes which included La Pointe de Bretteville (P. Arwas, p. 115.). The following year, it was lakes and ponds that inspired him more, with Lake Garda and Lake Trillardon among others. Here, the artist invites us to enjoy a sunset on the Pointe de Bretteville, in Normandy. 
As the sun goes out to give way to a crescent moon, its last light offers the sky a final warmth with purple tones. The coast, through an effect of contrast, allows a succinct division of the plans while nature, silent and devoid of all human life, falls asleep in poetic calm.

Ref: BQY5H655HA