Pictorial initial (page 184) from Les Petites Fleurs de St. François (The Little Flowers of St. Francis)
Émile Bernard
French, 1868–1941
1928
A printed page from Émile Bernard’s 1928 illustrated edition of Les Petites Fleurs de Saint François that pairs text with a small brown woodcut pictorial initial meant to distill Saint Francis’s humility into a single emblematic image.
At first glance the eye is arrested by the flat brown woodcut at the left—a stylized, kneeling Franciscan whose flowing robe and clasped hands form a decorative initial that interrupts the neat column of French type.
Part of an early 20th‑century revival of handcrafted book arts, this woodcut shows Bernard translating Symbolist and medieval influences into pared‑down graphic forms, helping reassert the woodcut as a modern expressive device for illustrated books.
Medium
One from an illustrated book with 329 woodcuts
Dimensions
composition (irreg.): 3 5/16 × 2 13/16" (8.4 × 7.2 cm); page: 12 13/16 × 9 13/16" (32.5 × 25 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Louis E. Stern Collection
Accession
677.1964.146
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
