L’aide gracieuse – Jacques Villon, 1907

JACQUES VILLON ON THE THRESHOLD OF CUBISM

“L’aide gracieuse”, drypoint etching made by Jacques Villon in 1907. Signed in pencil and numbered 30/30. Plate size: 19.7 x 14.5 cm.

In this composition Jacques Villon shows two figures in a casual moment of approach: a standing woman helps a second figure to rise. The title, L’aide gracieuse, refers to this elegant, courteous gesture, but Villon does not treat the scene in a narrative manner. The emphasis lies above all on line, posture and movement.

The etching is of interest within Villon’s development and belongs to the period in which he began to loosen his graphic style. The figures are not firmly outlined, but built up from free hatching. The lines also continue into the background, so that figure and space are less sharply separated. The result is an open, sketch-like image in which the scene is not fully fixed, but seems almost to remain in motion.

Jacques Villon (1875–1963), born Gaston Duchamp and the elder brother of Marcel Duchamp, would in the years after 1907 develop into one of the important graphic artists within French Cubism. L’aide gracieuse is therefore particularly interesting as an early transitional print: the scene remains recognisable and elegant, but the loose hatching, softened contours and interweaving of figure and background already point ahead to Villon’s later interest in the construction of form and spatial effect.

Price: Euro 750,-