Félix Hilaire Buhot

Les Vieux (The Elders)

1880

Buhot’s prints were made at a time of renewed interest in original printmaking (especially etching), which was rapidly becoming more popular than reproductive engraving. His etchings were singled out for praise as early as 1874 by the preeminent critic Philippe Burty, who admired the artist’s belles épreuves (beautiful proofs)— a term Burty promoted to denote rare, superbly inked impressions printed by the artist himself. By the 1880s Buhot had become one of the best-known and most collected printmakers of his day. Buhot’s renown extended well beyond his own country, and he also enjoyed critical acclaim and strong support for his prints in the United States. In 1888 the New York print dealer Frederick Keppel (1845-1912) gave Buhot his first one-man exhibition, which was quite successful. In addition to Keppel, Buhot became friends with two prominent late nineteenth-century American collectors who amassed large numbers of the artist’s prints: Samuel P. Avery (1822-1904) of New York collected over 300 prints and George A. Lucas (1824-1909) of Baltimore owned some 200 prints. Beginning in 1911, another large collection was formed by Albert H. Wiggin (1868-1951) of Boston, who bought over 150 impressions. Today, these collections can be found in, respectively, the New York Public Library, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Boston Public Library.