Lithograph By Paul Berthon - The Pointe De Bretteville (normandy)

Paul BERTHON (Villefranche-sur-Saône 1872 – 1934 Sceaux) La Pointe de Bretteville 1899 original lithograph printed in color 33.5 x 65 cm ; 46 x 89 cm signed 'Paul Berthon' top right in the plate. Titled 'La pointe de Bretteville' bottom right. Full margins. in an art nouveau frame in wood and embossed pewter with peacock decoration Paul Berthon first studied with Luc-Olivier Merson and Puvis de Chavannes. It was then at the École Guérin, with Eugène Grasset, that he moved towards a resolutely Art Nouveau style. Berthon strives to personify through his work the rich fusion of poetic and romantic tendencies, as well as a dialogue between the Middle Ages and the Orient very characteristic of the fin de siècle movement. Just like Grasset, whose practice had a profound impact on him, Berthon strives to isolate the forms of his works through a more or less powerful outline. In 1899, the artist produced a rare series of lithographs representing landscapes. The first of these was Notre-Dame seen from the Seine. He soon proposed a series of horizontal seascapes, including La pointe de Bretteville (P. Arwas, p. 115). The following year, it was lakes and ponds that inspired him more, with Lake Garda and Lake Trillardon among others. Here, the artist invites us to enjoy a sunset on the Pointe de Bretteville, in Normandy. As the sun sets to give way to a crescent moon, its last rays offer the sky a final warmth in violet tones. The coast, through a contrasting effect, allows for a succinct division of the shots while nature, silent and untouched by any human life, falls asleep in a poetic calm.