Cover for Douze Lithographies en Couleurs - Édouard Vuillard

A 1899 colour lithograph by Édouard Vuillard, designed as the cover for an album of prints commissioned by Ambroise Vollard.

This work is the cover for the album Douze Lithographies en Couleurs, commissioned by the art dealer Ambroise Vollard in 1899. As a member of the Nabis, Vuillard focused on the domestic interior, often obscuring the distinction between figures and their surroundings through flattened perspective and decorative patterns. This lithograph demonstrates his mastery of the medium, utilising a limited palette of muted browns and deep greens to create a sense of quietude. The composition features two figures within a room, rendered with the characteristic ambiguity of the Nabis movement. The text is integrated into the visual field, functioning as both information and graphic element. Vuillard avoids traditional modelling, opting instead for broad areas of colour and textured marks that suggest the atmosphere of a private space. The interplay between the striped fabric of the furniture and the solid blocks of colour creates a rhythmic surface, typical of his printmaking practice during this period. Ambroise Vollard was instrumental in promoting the colour lithograph as a serious artistic medium at the turn of the century. By inviting artists like Vuillard to produce portfolios, he encouraged a synthesis of fine art and graphic design. This cover reflects the aesthetic priorities of the era, where the page itself is treated as a unified design object. The print captures the intimate, often claustrophobic nature of the bourgeois interior, a recurring subject in Vuillard's oeuvre. His approach to light and shadow is non-naturalistic, relying on the grain of the stone and the layering of ink to define form. The result is a work that balances the requirements of a commercial publication with the personal, experimental vision of the artist.