A satirical monochrome print by Alphonse Allais, originally published in 1884 as part of his Album primo-avrilesque.

This work is a plate from the 1884 album titled Album primo-avrilesque, created by the French writer and humorist Alphonse Allais. The piece consists of a solid rectangle of ochre pigment, framed by a decorative black-and-white border typical of late nineteenth-century print ephemera. Beneath the central block of colour, the French title, Manipulation de l'ocre par des cocus ictériques, is printed in a standard serif typeface.

Allais was a central figure in the Incoherents movement, a short-lived group of Parisian artists and writers who utilised satire and absurdity to mock the seriousness of the contemporary art establishment. By presenting a monochromatic field of colour as a finished work, Allais anticipated the development of minimalist and conceptual art decades before these movements gained formal recognition. The humour lies in the disparity between the mundane, abstract nature of the ochre rectangle and the absurdly specific, narrative title provided by the artist.

This print is an example of early avant-garde irony. It rejects the traditional requirement for technical skill or representational imagery, choosing instead to engage the viewer through linguistic play and visual reduction. The decorative frame serves to heighten the irony, mimicking the presentation style of academic paintings while enclosing a void of pure colour. As a historical curiosity, it remains a clear example of the wit that defined the Parisian bohemian circles of the 1880s. The work is not merely a joke, but a deliberate subversion of the expectations placed upon the artist and the gallery space.