Belle Époque flirt – Michel Samanos (attrib.), c. 1907-1909

ELEGANT SATIRE OF THE BELLE ÉPOQUE

Parisienne et boulevardier, colour etching with aquatint, signed “SAM” in the plate lower right, presumably Michel Samanos, c. 1907–1909. Size: (plate mark) 49,5 x 32 cm.

A mondaine Parisienne turns with a sidelong glance toward a boulevardier in top hat, cigarette and walking cane at his side. She wears a close-fitting dress with a short jacket, a large boa and a fashionable feathered hat; he cuts the figure of a self-assured flaneur of the Parisian boulevard, dressed in an overcoat with striped trousers and white spats. The contrast between her nervous elegance and his self-satisfied pose lends the scene its gently mocking character.

The signature “SAM” presumably points to Michel (also known as Michaël) Samanos (1876–1924), a French draughtsman, etcher, illustrator and caricaturist who from around 1900 published humorous drawings in periodicals such as La Caricature, Le Frou-frou, L’Assiette au beurre, Le Rire and Le Sourire. He also produced etchings centred on Paris, Parisian women and mondaine street life.

This print fits squarely within that world: not a biting caricature, but an elegant, lightly ironic observation of Parisian boulevard culture, where fashion, flirtation, self-display and social comedy converge.

Price: Euro 650,-