Cephalus and Procris (plate, folio 52) from Les Amours (The Loves)

Émile Bernard

1915

An etching made as a book illustration by Émile Bernard that stages the tragic myth of Cephalus and Procris with spare line and a warm tonal wash to evoke an intimate, sudden loss.

You’re struck by the flat brown ink and economy of mark: two nude figures folded together—one limp, one bent over—set against simplified trees and a distant mountain so the scene reads like a decorative, emblematic moment of grief.

Part of Bernard’s revival of archaic, craft-based imagery, this print shows how early 20th‑century artists used etching and woodcut in illustrated books to give classical stories a direct, symbolic immediacy and to blur the line between fine art and the book arts.

Palette

Art Terms

Etching Illustrated book Print Figurative Post-Impressionism Monochrome Landscape Classicism

Exhibitions

Women of the Nineties: Fin-de-Siècle Prints

1979

Symbolism, Synthesists, and the Fin-de-Siècle

1972

New Acquisitions: Lachaise Torso; Prints

1934

A Cézanne Treasure: The Basel Sketchbooks

1988