The "Marges Symphoniques" of Félix Buhot

Although considerable attention has been given by art historians to nineteenth century French painting, much less serious critical work has been done on the printmaking of the period. The mid-nineteenth century revival of the print as an original art form both preceded Impressionism and shared its goal to replace academic art with a new aesthetic attuned to contemporary reality. Felix Buhot (1847-1898) is a principle representative of the 'Etching Renaissance'. His work is distinguished by personal imagery and an experimental technique that link it to twentieth century art. Buhot used the term 'Marges Symphoniques' to refer to a device that he developed which became his trademark. The following investigation will focus on this device, which is at once the most ideosyncratic and characteristic feature of his work, and will show how it solved the problem of creativity for an artist who worked on commission.