Vallotton, Félix

1865 – 1925
French, Swiss

Born in Switzerland to a modest, Protestant family, Félix Vallotton made his way to Paris to study art at the age of 16 and never left.  He quickly earned a reputation as a very fine woodcut print maker notable for a simple but impactful, flat, black and white style that often satirized the bourgeoisie.  He soon joined the semi-secret group “Les Nabis [Prophets]” earning the nickname “the foreign Nabi”.

His marriage to the wealthy widow Gabrielle Rodrigues-Henriques, sister of the owner of the venerable Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, brought him financial security and he temporarily abandoned print making for more prestigious oil painting.  However, he returned to wood block printing during World War I when he created a portfolio as an homage to his adopted country.

As well as a successful painter and printmaker, Vallotton was also a novelist, a playwright, and a photographer.  His voyeuristic, suspenseful style makes him one of the more enigmatic artists of the 20th century.