Engraving Heading towards the black rocks - Bertrand Henry 2001

Since 1989, the Louvre Museum and the Réunion des musées nationaux have entrusted contemporary artists with the task of producing engraved plates for Chalcographie, which ensures the exclusivity of the print run, without limitation on the number of prints.

Very different trends in contemporary art are...

Since 1989, the Louvre Museum and the Réunion des musées nationaux have entrusted contemporary artists with the task of producing engraved plates for Chalcographie, which ensures the exclusivity of the print run, without limitation on the number of prints.

Very different trends in contemporary art are represented. Geneviève Asse meets Georg Baselitz, Pierre Courtin, Jean-Pierre Pincemin, Pat Steir, Jean-Michel Alberola, Robert Morris, Louise Bourgeois, Markus Raetz, Pierre Alechinsky or Agathe May.

Bertrand Henry is a discreet and secretive artist who strives to represent the depth and interweaving of things through portraits and landscapes. His graphic work plays on the superimposition of planes, creating compositions in which the various elements are difficult to separate and must be reconstituted by the eye. One of his earliest works, Adret, is a very large etching and aquatint print in nine plates, depicting one of the slopes of a mountain, in which the vegetation of trees, broom and tall grasses intermingles with the rocks and arid earth. This complexity is also evident in Allant vers les roches noires: in an approach that recalls both Chinese calligraphy and Hercule Seghers, the artist has densified the visual effects of foliage and sky through successive bites, restoring the poetry and mystery of the foliage.