The Birth of Annette
Edouard Vuillard
ca. 1899 · Color lithograph on China paper; trial proof of undescribed early state · Drawings and Prints
The diminutive face of Vuillard’s newborn niece Annette appears amid a pile of bed linens and an exuberant array of patterns in fresh pinks and greens. His sister Marie leans over her tiny infant protectively. The composition evokes the precious and precarious state of this new life, acutely appreciated by the family who had experienced the tragedies of stillbirth and the death of a child in infancy. Marie and her husband, the painter Ker-Xavier Roussel, lived with Vuillard and his mother. The close quarters of their Parisian apartment fueled the artist’s explorations of the domestic realm and the emotions of family life.
- Artist
- Edouard Vuillard
- Date
- ca. 1899
- Medium
- Color lithograph on China paper; trial proof of undescribed early state
- Department
- Drawings and Prints
- Credit line
- Purchase, Anonymous Gift, in honor of Janet Ruttenberg, 2000
