The Port of Honfleur – Johan Barthold Jongkind, 1865

JETTY IN THE PORT OF HONFLEUR

“Jetée en Bois dans le Port de Honfleur”, etching made in 1865 by Johan Barthold Jongkind and published by Cadart & Luquet, 2nd state (of IV). Size (plate mark): 23.6 × 31.6 cm.

Johan Barthold Jongkind (1819–1891) is a key figure in 19th-century painting and a pioneer of Impressionism. Born in the Netherlands, he spent most of his life in France, where he befriended artists such as Claude Monet, Eugène Boudin, Charles-François Daubigny, and Camille Pissarro. In addition to town views, Jongkind mainly painted coastal and river landscapes.

Jongkind belonged to a group of innovative and progressive artists in Paris and was open to new initiatives. One such initiative was the founding of a society dedicated to reviving the art of etching. While lithography had soared in popularity during the early 19th century, by the latter half it had become a banal illustration tool. Etching, by contrast, was seen as a medium in which the true hand of the artist was visible. In 1862, the publisher Alfred Cadart, together with printer Auguste Delâtre, founded the Société des Aquafortistes (Society of Etchers). Their aim was to publish albums of prints by living artists. Participants included Manet, Millet, and Jongkind. Jongkind’s first contribution was the etching Vue de la Ville de Maassluis for the 1862 edition. Later works included views of the port of Honfleur and the railway line along the harbour.

Charles Baudelaire was among the first to see Jongkind’s etchings. In 1862, he wrote an article titled “L’Eau-forte est à la mode” (Etching is in Fashion): “Jongkind has entrusted his secret dreams to paper, a remarkable abridged version of his painting; these are sketches that any lover accustomed to reading the soul of an artist – even from the quickest of scrawls – will appreciate.”

By around 1860, Jongkind had perfected his own style. He had moved beyond the ‘heavy’ realism of earlier years but had not yet embraced the lightness of Impressionism. He sketched and painted watercolours en plein air, striving to capture exactly what was happening before his eyes. Typically, the emphasis was on the atmosphere surrounding the subject, rather than on the object itself.

This etching belongs to the series in which Jongkind experimented with maritime and harbour views, demonstrating his talent for capturing the essence of a place with just a few deft lines.

Today, his works are held in major painting and graphic art collections around the world. From October 2017 to May 2018, the Dordrechts Museum hosted a major exhibition: Jongkind & Friends.

Price: Euro 1.250,-