Edgar Chahine - Graphics (1847 - 1947)

Edgar Chahine was born in Venice of Armenian parents. At age 21 he decided to travel to Paris and pursue a career in fine arts. He studied painting under formal instruction at the Académie Julian, but his natural ability and his determination to express himself as an artist led him to a personal style based more on the reality of the streets of Paris than the confines of the classroom.

Chahine began to experiment with the possibilities of printmaking at the age of 25. Although he had already achieved some success with his paintings, he became fascinated with prints and soon worked exclusively in this medium. His prints were very much in demand by collectors and the well known publisher, Edmond Sagot, quickly became his dealer. He won several medals and awards and received many commissions.

Chahine's print œuvre is an equal representation of elegant Parisian men and women and Bourgeois society, and more common scenes of country fairs and street life. His sympathetic depictions of children, beggars, circus performers and other often forgotten people were engaging and touched the emotions of the observer, while his portrayals of the more fashionable side of Paris accurately captured its "joie de vivre". Neither a part of the traditional schools and academic circles or identified with the more contemporary artists, he preferred to think of himself as “a student of the street.” Visually, it is clear that he drew both subject and technical inspiration from some of the master printmakers of the seventeenth century, particularly Callot, Rembrandt, Daumier and Meryon. Other subjects in the life of Paris began to emerge at the turn of the century as the artist became intrigued with the nightlife of Montmartre. Along with Villon, Tissot and Helleu, Chahine was one of the best portrayers of the images associated with La Belle Epoque. The parks of Paris, the boulevards, elegant women in carriages, all form a vivid impression of the prosperous side of this period in French history. For these subjects he drew inspiration, not only from the long tradition of French printmakers, but also from Whistler and contemporary artists including Toulouse-Lautrec and Degas, whose flat arrangement of compositional elements provided a true departure from tradition.

The death of his fiancé plunged him into a deep depression, and he left Paris to travel through Italy. This voyage gave him the serenity and the inspiration to begin working with new enthusiasm actually etching the day's drawings onto copper plates in his hotel room each night. He returned with new vigor and expanded his efforts to once again include pastels and oils in his work but his commitment to etching was paramount. He seemed to love the orchestrations of light and dark tones which the medium encouraged.

This productivity was not to last, as the combination of terrible events in Armenia and Syria culminating in the outbreak of World War I rendered Chahine unable to work. Not until his marriage in 1921 did he begin to make art again. In 1925 he became a French citizen and began a new burst of creative activity in fine prints and illustrated books.

Many of Chahine's prints were lost in a fire in his atelier in 1926, and many more were destroyed in a flood in 1942. We are fortunate to still have great examples of this exceptional artist's work to transport our spirits back to turn of the century France!