The Breaking Waves, Tide of September 1901

Created as a color woodcut, the print follows the Japanese ukiyo‑e tradition that French artists had begun to emulate in the late 19th century. The artist employed multiple blocks for hue and line, achieving a layered effect that balances bold outlines with subtle tonal variations, a hallmark of the period’s experimental print practices.

The piece belongs to a wave of French color woodcuts first produced by Auguste‑Louis Lepère and Henri Rivière, who deliberately modeled their processes on Japanese methods. By 1890 the technique had attracted sculptors such as Aristide Maillol and painters like Félix Vallotton and Paul Gauguin, leading to a broader revival that continued into the early 1900s.

The print emerged during a French revival of woodcut printing that began in the 1880s and accelerated by the mid‑1890s. This resurgence was part of a larger fascination with Japonisme, wherein European artists incorporated Eastern aesthetics and methods, reshaping the visual language of modern printmaking.