The Breaking Waves, Tide of September 1901 (1901): Art, History and Details

The Breaking Waves, Tide of September 1901 (1901) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Auguste Louis Lepère (French, 1849–1918).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In the 1880s, Lepère was an early exponent of the woodcut as a fine art medium, experimenting with the technique and exhibiting his prints. His example probably encouraged Henri Rivière to produce woodcuts in the Japanese manner (see Wave in the Rain). In fact, Lepère and Rivière created the first French color woodcuts conceived and printed entirely in imitation of Japanese woodcut techniques. By 1890, woodcut would be taken up by the sculptor Aristide Maillol and such painters as Félix Vallotton and Paul Gauguin, and by 1895, a full-scale revival was underway.

Object facts

• Title: The Breaking Waves, Tide of September 1901
• Date: 1901
• Creator attribution: Auguste Louis Lepère (French, 1849–1918)
• Culture: France, early 20th Century
• Type: Print
• Technique: color woodcut
• Collection: PR - Chiaroscuro
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1949.526

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.