Henry Chapront - Suites de 16 gravures tirées sur Chine et sur Vélin. - 1924

Rare. Magnificent sets of 16 wood engravings printed on China and vellum, created by Henry Chapront for the illustrated edition of Huysmans' novel Là-bas (1924).

For each series: six prints printed in orange, six in black, and four in plum. With an ivory-colored dust jacket. In excellent condition, despite the cover being slightly worn. Very beautiful print run.

For the illustration of the novel, Henry Chapront was inspired by the drawings he had already created in 1912 for Auguste Blaizot. This detached sequence is rare and often absent from the illustrated edition published by La Connaissance in 1924.

Chapront employs a sharp, compact, powerful, and boldly synthetic graphic style, with unexpected layouts highlighting the uniqueness of a vision often tinged with shameless eroticism that was meant to attract the attention of the surrealists.

Henry (Charles) Chapront (1876-1965) was a symbolist painter, book artist, aquatintist, and wood engraver from France, born in Rochefort (Charente Maritime) and died in Dordogne. He began his painting career in Montmartre and worked as an illustrator for reviews sympathetic to the anarchist cause (Floreal 1920-1921?). He was close to the last decadent writers.
Prolific wood engraver, he participated in the renaissance of the illustrated book after the First World War: he illustrated works of modern literature, Decadents (including those by Rémy de Gourmont and Jean Lorrain), and classical literature for the so-called semi-luxury collections of éditions A. Plicque, A & G Mornay, G. Crès, La Connaissance, and À l'Enseigne du Pot cassé.

Henry Chapront
Series of 16 wood engravings printed on Chinese paper and vellum.
[Paris, La Connaissance, 1924]
In-12 (18 x 13 cm); 16 engravings.