‘Les Crêpes’, an amusing Belle Époque French erotic etching by Joseph Apoux.

Description

A curvaceous naked lady stands holding a pan from which she has flipped a crêpe, shown in mid air above it. The smoke from the cooking fire hides her genitalia, and a black cat sits beside her. Behind her, a plump, lecherous old man advances towards her holding his top hat and a bunch of flowers. Around them are chefs, money, birds in flight, a pig, and a plate of oysters with a bottle of champagne.

This original etching was published around 1890 by L. Joly in Paris, France, as part of a folio of six etchings titled 'Six Caprices a l'Eau Forte' (Six Caprices in Etching). Gently erotic prints such as this were popular in fin de siècle France at the time, and Joseph Apoux (1846-1910) specialised in them.

Condition
Great impression on wove paper, clean, noting a printer's smudge just outside the margin on the bottom left corner. Apparently untrimmed with slightly deckled edges. Currently mounted in an old burgundy mount which has left a shadow - see the images. The slightly scuffed mount has been retained primarily to protect the etching for the time being.

Plate size: 12.6cm wide, 16.7cm high. Paper size: 21.8cm wide, 29.4cm high.

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