↗France, late 19th century-early 20th century · c. 1915–26
Water Lilies (Agapanthus)
Claude Monet
John L. Severance Fund · The Cleveland Museum of Art
Image licence: CC0 · Museum record & image source ↗
France, 20th century · 1920
The Bar
- Date
- 1920
- Medium
- aquatint, etching and drypoint
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 40.7 x 30.8 cm (16 x 12 1/8 in.); Platemark: 18.6 x 14.3 cm (7 5/16 x 5 5/8 in.)
- Country / context
- France
- Movement / tradition
- European and American art
- Collection
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Attribution / role
- Museum attribution
- Pathway
- European and American art ↗
ABOUT THIS WORK
The Bar is a representative work in our Louis Marcoussis guide. The catalogue records aquatint, etching and drypoint. Museum attribution. The linked artist guide places it alongside other works from the artist’s career.
Original educational overview · based on the linked museum recordPlace in the artist’s career
The 1920 Bar combines several intaglio methods; the oil Night Café develops related spatial problems through colour; the 1930 Stairway uses crayon and pencil on paper. Compare printed tonal grain, painted planes and directly drawn lines. A later monochrome drawing does not mean the artist had rejected colour; it reflects a different material and project.
The artist’s practice
Artist-wide context; individual works may differ.
Media and surface
Aquatint, etching, oil and direct crayon drawing offer distinct routes through compressed space.
Marks and structure
Intersecting planes and overlapping signs maintain Cubist relations between objects and setting.
Palette and light
Printed grain, drawn tone and painted colour articulate similar spatial problems with different means.
A MOMENT TO LOOK
Start with what you can see: shapes, surface, colour and scale. How might the listed materials affect the way this object was made and experienced?
Looking prompt · an invitation to observe, not a historical interpretation.
