Legros, Alphonse (1837-1911)
Soirée à la fenêtre (Evening at the Window)
1884
Etching and drypoint
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
Alphonse Legros taught for nearly two decades as a professor of fine arts at the Slade School in London and was the first to add etching to its curriculum. This etching is one of more than 600 that Alphonse Legros created throughout his career. He favored this technique, which allowed artists to sketch on a copper plate as if drawing on paper, for its spontaneity. Legros often worked directly on the plate, crossing off portions to be trimmed away as he went. In this image of a man staring through an open window, Legros scribbled along the upper and lower margins to give the composition a more specific focus. (CMA)