Maurice Delcourt

In the studio of a hat maker, a lady is absorbed, with a critical expression, in the sight in the mirror. While she adjusts a feathered hat on her head, the milliner waits in the background with another piece. The model of Japanese colour woodcuts is not only expressed in the format and technique, the milliner's posture and hairstyle are also reminiscent of figures from Japanese prints. Vivid cold-warm contrasts characterise the palette of the enchanting sheet, which appeared in L'Estampe Nouvelle in 1905. The painter, etcher and wood engraver Maurice Delcourt had been exhibiting at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts since 1899. In addition to painted genre scenes, landscapes and urban views, he is also known for his woodcuts and etchings for magazines such as L'Epreuve (1895) and L'Estampe nouvelle (1899, 1905) as well as book illustrations. - Colour-fresh, luminous proof before the numbered edition of 50, with handwritten notes on colour adjustments and inscribed "bonne". With wide margins, at bottom and right the full margins, and with markings from the printing process at top and bottom. Minimally dusty and stained, verso hinging residues, otherwise in very good condition. From the collection of H. M. Petiet (vgl. Lugt 5031).