53. Félix Buhot
(1847-1898)

Le Hibou (The Owl)

(click on image to print)
Buhot, Le Hibou

Le Hibou (The Owl)

Etching, drypoint, aquatint and roulette, 1883, B/G 161 v/v, 442 x 329 mm. A fine and unusual impression, the marginal sketches printed à l’essence, on thick, olive-green laid paper with full margins, signed with the red owl stamp within the image and bearing verso the Buhot family triangular stamp. The print is a summing up of much of what Buhot was all about. There is a horse-drawn cab, a sailing ship, a figure from a novel he illustrated, people with umbrellas, gulls, owls, a minstrel and a bit of the church at Valognes. In the central image, the owl, Buhot’s alter ego, stands next to an open book and his shadow, cast on the blank page, produces a silhouette portrait of the bearded artist. The words Pauca Paucis (A Few for the Few) are inscribed below the owl and the book. Buhot designed the print to be a cover or title page for a projected album of some of his works. Like some other projects of his, it never came to fruition. The print itself, though, is a major addition to his oeuvre.

Inquire $10,000.00 Buy Now