Clot, Auguste
There was little kudos to be had as an actual printer in the world of Parisian printmaking, in which critics like Roger Marx placed increasing emphasis on the creative role of the artist in the printing process.
One exception, however, was the master printer Auguste Clot (1858–1936), whose far-reaching collaboration with the most important printmakers made him immensely important to the flourishing of colour lithography during the fin de siècle.
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Clot and the Nabis
Clot acted as the house printer for publisher Ambroise Vollard, developing a close working relationship with the Nabi artists Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Ker-Xavier Roussel and Edouard Vuillard.
These artists collaborated with Clot on Vollard’s behalf for years on several prestigious print series — their four albums are considered to be among the era’s finest.
The intensive creative process can be traced through the countless trial proofs with written instructions and corrections in chalk, which passed back and forth between Clot and the artists.
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More than a Printer?
Some of the artists Vollard recruited for his print albums were less involved than others in the creative process.
In many cases, they were the somewhat better established modern artists like Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Auguste Rodin and Odilon Redon, who were less willing to throw themselves into the complex craft of colour lithography.
They simply provided the master printer with a design drawing, which he then turned into a print on his own.
The critic André Mellerio disapproved of this way of working. In his opinion, it meant the printer left too strong a stamp on the artwork.
Further Reading
André Mellerio, La Lithographie originale en couleurs, Paris 1898
Pat Gilmour, ‘Cher Monsieur Clot… Auguste Clot and his Role as a Colour Lithographer’, Lasting Impressions: Lithography as Art, Philadelphia 1988, p. 129-182
Marije Vellekoop, ‘Een kijkje in de werkplaats: De techniek van de prentkunst’, in Prentkunst in Parijs: De rage van het fin de siècle, Amsterdam 2013, p. 44-73
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