The Two Matrons

Original Language TitleLes Deux Matrons

Series TitleLes Réincarnations du Père Ubu

Artist Georges Rouault (French, 1871 - 1958)

Date1929; published 1955

MediumAquatint with roulette and etching on laid paper

DimensionsImage: 3 3/16 × 2 1/16 inches (8.1 × 5.3 cm)
Plate: 3 13/16 × 2 13/16 inches (9.7 × 7.1 cm)
Sheet: 10 1/4 × 7 3/8 inches (26 × 18.7 cm)
Mat: 16 1/2 × 13 1/2 inches (41.91 × 34.29 cm)
Framed: 19 × 16 × 3/4 inches (48.26 × 40.64 × 1.91 cm)

Credit LineGift of Robert L. Bloch

Object number2018.76

SignedSigned [etched on printing plate] lower left: G R 1929

On View

Not on view

Collections

European Art

Terms

DescriptionRouault’s etching The Two Matrons (Les Deux Matrons) depicts two nude bust-length women in three-quarter profile. Rendered in simplified and slightly rounded forms through a series of densely woven cross-hatched lines, their pale white skin stands out in sharp contrast against the murky dark background. The woman at left wears a necklace and bracelet and her head is raised, whereas her female counterpart bears a downcast look. Their lips are pursed and their heads sit awkwardly on thick necks, which adjoin slightly sunken shoulders. The artist’s initials and date “GR 1929” appear below the image, and were etched into the printing plate. The work is printed on a moderately textured, machine made laid paper with an estimated original paper color of beige (The Print Council of America Paper Sample Book). A partial, but illegible, watermark is present in the lower right corner. The edges of the paper are irregularly cut with the left edge shorter than the right.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

[None known at this time.]

Provenance

With Chamberlin Galleries, Sepulveda, CA, by 1986 [1];

With Mission Road Antique Mall, Prairie Village, KS, by 2008 [2];

Purchased from Mission Road Antique Mall by Robert L. Bloch (b. 1952), Mission Hills, KS, by 2008-December 13, 2018;

His gift to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2018.

NOTES:

[1] See label on verso, backing board. Off-white, rectangular sticker, typewritten: CHAMBERLIN GALLERIES / AUCTIONEERS AND APPRAISERS SINCE 1967 / 16155 ROSCOE BLVD., SEPULVEDA, CA 91343 / CONSIGNMENTS ACCEPTED (818) 891-1743. According to Sheryl Chamberlin, former owner of the gallery, the company vacated the Roscoe Boulevard address around 1986; see email from her to Meghan Gray, NAMA, January 11, 2019, NAMA curatorial file.

[2] See email from Robert L. Bloch to Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, NAMA, January 9, 2019, NAMA curatorial file.

Published References

Ambroise Vollard and Georges Rouault, Les Réincarnations du Père Ubu (Paris: Société Normande des Amis du Livre, 1955), no. 119.

Alan Wofsy, Georges Rouault: the graphic work (San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1976), 89, 96.

François Chapon and Isabelle Rouault, Rouault: Œuvre Gravé (Monte-Carlo: Éditions André Sauret, 1978), no. 46, p. 1:191.

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