Artist: Paul Jacoulet
Medium: Original Limited Edition Japanese Woodblock Print
Series Title: South Seas Series - Celebes
Edition: #140/250
Date: December, 1938
Publisher: The Artist - Privately Published
Reference No.: Miles #53
Size: 18 -3/4 x 14 -1/4 "
Condition: Very fine, with superb colors
Notes:
Carver: Maeda. Printers: Honda, Uchikawa, Fujii. The work, Sunset in Menado sold steadily and was a great success for the artist. Even though metallics were never used in the creation of this print, the effect of the sharply cut key-block against a nearly abstract eight-impression background captivated collectors at the time.
This scene is Jacoulet's tongue-in-cheek comment on Manet's 1863 painting, Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe. Most viewers overlooked the commentary and loved the soft, suggestive colors which introduced a palette that the artist used intermittently for the rest of his career. The powdery, ingratiating surface is in distinct contrast to the clearly unconventional reversal of Manet's succes de scandale, with a nude male in a subservient posture.