Artwork
You shall conjugate...
You shall conjugate... is a print by Félix Vallotton. It dates from 1901 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
You see a man in a dark suit pointing a gun at a woman who’s already on the floor, blood pooling around her.
You see a man in a dark suit pointing a gun at a woman who’s already on the floor, blood pooling around her.
This isn’t a painting—it’s a woodcut printed in a French magazine in 1902. The sharp black-and-white lines make the scene feel like a newspaper cartoon, but the subject is brutal. Vallotton made it for a series about crime and punishment, showing violence without glamour.
Look up more of Félix Vallotton’s woodcuts to see how he turned everyday cruelty into bold, graphic art.
Overview
Published on 1 March 1902 as plate 17 of the series *Crimes and Punishments* in the satirical weekly *L’Assiette au Beurre*, this work is a woodcut by Félix Vallotton. The image presents a stark, monochrome scene of a man in a dark suit aiming a pistol at a woman who lies on the ground, a pool of blood spreading beneath her.
Subject & Meaning
The composition foregrounds a moment of lethal violence, emphasizing the immediacy of the act rather than any narrative context. By isolating the perpetrator and victim in a stark tableau, Vallotton underscores the brutal reality of crime, stripping away any romanticized or sensational elements that might otherwise soften the impact.
Technique & Style
Executed with the precise incisions of woodcut, the print relies on bold black lines and stark contrasts to convey form and movement. The graphic clarity recalls the visual language of contemporary newspaper cartoons, yet the medium’s inherent rigidity amplifies the scene’s severity, turning everyday cruelty into a sharply delineated visual statement.
History & Provenance
The piece first appeared in the French illustrated magazine *L’Assiette au Beurre*, a publication known for its social commentary and avant‑garde illustrations. As part of Vallotton’s larger series on criminality, it circulated widely among the magazine’s readership, contributing to early 20th‑century debates on justice and public morality.
Context
Created during the Belle Époque, a period marked by both cultural flourishing and stark social inequalities, the woodcut reflects contemporary anxieties about urban crime. Vallotton, a member of the Nabis group, often employed flat, graphic surfaces to critique modern life, and this work aligns with his broader engagement with social realism.
Artist & collection
Artist
Félix Édouard Vallotton (French: ; December 28, 1865 – December 29, 1925) was a Swiss and French painter and printmaker associated with the group of artists known as Les Nabis.
