Georges Rouault. 1871-1958.
Réincarnations du Père Ubu. 1918-19. Etching, sugar-lift aquatint, roulette and woodcut. Chapon-Rouault 8-30. Sheet size: 17 x 12 3/4. Complete set of twenty-two etchings and aquatints, hors-texte, and 104 wood engravings en-texte by Georges Aubert after drawings by Rouault. Example number 179 from the edition of 200 on papier àla marque de la Manufacture Royale de Vidalon avec la suite sur Arches et Rives (total edition 305). Initialed and dated in the plate or the block. $7,500 the complete set. The plates are not sold individually.
Rouault began the series in 1913 and completed the illustrations in 1928. The Ubu series marks Rouault's first use of photogravure to secure a basic image on the plate. An 8-page prospectus with 5 wood engravings by Aubert was issued by Vollard. The work was designed to mirror the artist's religious convictions and questionings and was to be a vast operation of over 100 prints. As the series progressed, an oeuvre of 100 proved too ambitious; so the series was curtailed.
Ambroise Vollard was obsessed with his invented character - Pere Abu - for more then 3 decades. He began with “Le Grand Almanach du Pere Ubu, 1900 - 1901, illustrated by Pierre Bonnard and ended with Rouault's Reincarnations du Pere Ubu in 1932, with etchings by Rouault. Vollard wrote or published more then 10 works on the subject. Pere Ubu was based on the play ,Ubu Roi, by Alfred Jarry, that premiered in 1896. It is one of the precursors to the Theatre of the Absurd and the greater surrealist art movement of the early twentieth century. It is the first of three stylised burlesques in which Jarry satirises power, greed and their evil practices — in particular the propensity of the complacent bourgeois to abuse the authority engendered by success.
Réincarnations du Père Ubu is offered as a complete set only. The plates are not sold individually.
Click on the images for larger images. The large image files are hyperlinked.
Cover.
Plate 1. Frontispiece. 1928 (published 1932). Chapon-Rouault 8.d. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 11 7/8 x 7 3/4 (sheet 17 x 13 1/8). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of 'Rives' laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, lower left.
Plate 2. Fléau Colon. 1928 (published 1932). Chapon-Rouault 9.d. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 12 x 7 5/8 (sheet 17 x 12 7/8). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, lower left.
Plate 3. Bon Candidat Boudoubadabou. 1928 (published 1932). Chapon-Rouault 10.e. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 11 13/16 x 7 5/8 (sheet 17 x 12 3/4). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of 'Arches' laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, lower left.
Plate 4. Le Politicard. 1928 (published 1932). Chapon-Rouault 11.d. Etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 11 11/16 x 7 5/8 (sheet 17 x 12 13/16). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of 'Arches' laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, lower center.
Plate 5. Bon Électeur. 1928 (published 1932). Chapon-Rouault 12.e. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 10 5/8 x 6 15/16 (sheet 17 x 12 7/8). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of 'Arches' laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, lower left. Initialed, lower right.
Plate 6. Le Pere Ubu Chantre. 1928 (published 1932). Chapon-Rouault 13.c. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 12 1/8 x 7 11/16 (sheet 17 1/16 x 12 3/4). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of 'Arches' laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, lower left.
Plate 7. Profil. 1928 (published 1932). Chapon-Rouault 14.e. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 11 3/4 x 7 3 /4 (sheet 17 1/4 x 12 1/8). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of 'Arches' laid paper. Initialed in the plate, bottom center.
Plate 8. Le Noir Libéré. 1928 (published 1932). Chapon-Rouault 15.c. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 8 7/16 x 11 15/16 (sheet 13 1/16 x 17). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of 'Arches' laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, lower right.
Plate 9. L'Administrateur Colonial. 1928 (published 1932). Chapon-Rouault 16.e. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 10 1/2 x 6 5/8 (sheet 17 x 12 7/8). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, lower left.
Plate 10. Incantation. 1928 (published 1932). Chapon-Rouault 17.e. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. . 11 5/8 x 7 3/4 (sheet 17 x 12 3/4). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of 'Arches' laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, bottom center.
Plate 11. [Bamboula]. 1928. Chapon-Rouault 18.e. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 11 3/4 x 6 (sheet 17 x 12 15/16). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, bottom right.
Plate 12. [Nu]. 1928. Chapon-Rouault 19.e. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 10 1/2 x 6 1/2 (sheet 17 x 13). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of 'Arches' laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, bottom right.
Plate 13. Paysage Tropical. 1928. Chapon-Rouault 20.f. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 11 3/4 x 7 3/8 (sheet 17 x 13). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of 'Arches' laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, bottom left.
Plate 14. Cristal de Roche. 1928. Chapon-Rouault 21.d. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 12 3/8 x 7 15/16 (sheet 17 x 12 7/8). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, bottom right.
Plate 15. [Mademoiselle Irma]. 1928. Chapon-Rouault 22.d. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 11 7/8 x 7 1/8 (sheet 17 x 12 7/8). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, bottom right.
Plate 16. [Le Poisson Volanti]. 1928. Chapon-Rouault 23.c. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 8 1/2 x 12 1/4 (sheet 12 3/4 x 17). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, bottom center.
Plate 17. [Noces]. 1928. Chapon-Rouault 24.d. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 12 3/16 x 8 7/8 (sheet 17 x 12 15/16). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, bottom center.
Plate 18. [Les Deux Matrones]. 1928. Chapon-Rouault 25.e. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 10 5/8 x 7 7/16 (sheet 17 1/16 x 13). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, on top towards the right.
Plate 19. [Sainte-Nitouche]. 1928. Chapon-Rouault 26.b. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 10 x 6 1/2 (sheet 17 1/16 x 13). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of 'Arches' laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, bottom left.
Plate 20. [Le Directeur de Théâtre]. 1928. Chapon-Rouault 27.c. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 11 7/8 x 7 3/4 (sheet 17 x 13 1/16). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of 'Arches' laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, lower middle right.
Plate 21. [Nu Assis]. 1928. Chapon-Rouault 28.f. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 10 9/16 x 6 5/8 (sheet 17 x 13 1/16). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of 'Rives' laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, upper middle left.
Plate 22. [Fille au Grand Chapeau]. 1928. Chapon-Rouault 29.e. Heliogravure, etching soft-ground, roulette and aquatint. 11 11/16 x 7 7/8 (sheet 17 x 13 1/8). Series: Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Edition 305. Printed on the full sheet of 'Rives' laid paper. Initialed and dated in the plate, bottom right.
To order or to be placed on the email list, please contact Jane Allinson (jane@allinsongallery.com).