Marc Mouclier, Femme Alanguie, 1896, Wood Engraving, Signed Print (nabi, Louis Valtat Collection)

Marc Mouclier (1866 – 1948)
Femme alanguie, 1896
116 x 160 mm (composition)
232 x 315 mm (sheet)
Wood engraving, print on thin wove paper
Print signed upper left by the artist, in pen
Collection stamp of Louis Valtat (L.1771bis) lower right

Very well preserved
Framed, under glass

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Marc Mouclier (1866 – 1948) is certainly the most unknown artist of the Nabi group. A close friend of Édouard Vuillard (who painted his charming portrait in 1888, now kept at the Milwaukee Art Museum), he participated in the inaugural exhibition of the Nabi movement in 1893 at the Le Barc de Bouttteville gallery where his works were among those of Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Paul Sérusier, Vuillard and Félix Vallotton. The 1890s represent the most luminous and exciting moment in Marc Mouclier's career, with a set of paintings, drawings and engravings which, although they remain known today by too few people, deserve to be looked at and appreciated.

By browsing and studying what is preserved about this artist at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, it was possible to find the publication in which this print appeared. It is the album of ten woodcuts entitled Rêve, vie published in 1896 by the man who was Mouclier's most fervent friend and patron, that is to say Emile Straus (link to the library description).

The justification for the edition of only thirty copies indicates the rarity of this album, as well as of this print (see photographs). This print was certainly printed apart from the album. Marc Mouclier was therefore able to sign it and offer to his friend and collaborator Louis Valtat (1869-1952). Precisely between 1896, the year of this print, and 1899, Mouclier and Valtat began their collaboration on the edition of an entirely handmade publication, of which our artist was the editor-in-chief : L'Omnibus de Corinthe : véhicule illustré des idées générales, départ tous les trois mois. This quaterly journal, highly sought after by bibliophiles and print collectors, is an explosion of creativity and literally a vehicle for the thought and aesthetics of some of the most remarkable minds of this end of the century, notably Alfred Jarry, Pierre Bonnard, Jossot , Willy, and Louis Valtat.

It is remarkable that Alfred Jarry was one of the collaborators of this review: there is no doubt that he represented an important influence for Marc Mouclier since Jarry was, with Remy de Gourmont, the initiator of the revival of the publication of wood engravings at the end of the 19th century thanks to the magazine L'Ymagier from 1894.

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Marc Mouclier is an artist who, in my opinion, deserves to be studied closely and methodically. I am always curious to discover works by him (paintings, drawings and engravings) for expertise or for my own documentation. Feel free to get in touch.