Fantaisie Française: Prints from the Vanderryn Collection

Creative energy burst forth from printmakers’ studios in France during the second half of the nineteenth century, as artists explored a range of stylistic impulses while pushing their chosen medium in new directions. Fantaisie Française: Prints from the Vanderryn Collection presents work by artists such as Rodolphe Bresdin, Félix Hilaire Buhot, Odilon Redon, and Félix Edouard Vallotton, each of whom expanded the possibilities of the original print. Using the myriad printmaking tools at their disposal (occasionally combined in unconventional ways), these artists expanded the print’s visual potential, making exciting new works that illuminated the spirit of many of the period’s numerous art movements. While demonstrating new approaches to printmaking in this period, the works on view also observe exchanges between visual artists and literary figures and present dynamic artistic reflections on a changing modern age. Whether focused on new modes of urban life or constructing nostalgic views of the countryside, these artists approached their intaglio, relief, and planographic work with both technical acumen and imaginative zeal, creating multiples that allowed participation in a robust market for prints at home and abroad.

https://legionofhonor.famsf.org/exhibitions/vanderryn-collection