Detouche, Henry Julien, 1854-1913

Biographical/Historical note

Collection donor Michael G. Wilson is best known as the producer and screenwriter of films in the James Bond series (per Prints and Drawings curator Naoko Takahatake). Wilson, born in New York City in 1942, obtained degrees in electrical engineering and law and later joined the film business of his stepfather, Albert R. Broccoli. In 2008 he was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire. In addition to his work in film, Wilson is a noted collector and expert in nineteenth century photography, and co-authored the book Pictorialism in California with Dennis Read.

About Félicien Rops

Born on July 7, 1833, in Namur, Belgium, Rops moved to Brussels at the age of 20 where he enrolled in the Atelier Libre de St Luc. Working at first primarily in lithography, Rops’ artistic career began with his caricatures of political figures published in a student paper, Le Crocodile, and later in a satirical weekly he founded, L’Uylenspiegel . By 1865 Rops had mostly ceased working in lithography; in 1862 he learned etching and traveled to Paris to study the technique with leading practitioners, Félix Bracquemond and Jules Jacquemart.

In 1868, along with fifteen other Belgian artists, Rops helped establish the Société de l’Art Libre . The Société was formed to promote artistic freedom and to advance the Realist movement, in reaction against the official Brussels Salon. The Société published a bi-monthly journal and held its own exhibitions. The following year Rops created the Société Internationale des Aquafortistes ; members of the Société included Rops' fellow printer and collaborator, François Nys. Later, after the dissolution of these two groups, Rops joined another group of Belgian artists calling themselves Les XX, formed in 1883 by Octave Maus. Les XX held annual exhibitions featuring their own work along with the works of artists invited from outside Belgium. Rops exhibited his painting "Pornocrates" to a scandalous reception at the Salon des XX in 1886.

During the years 1864 to 1871, Rops created engraved illustrations for publisher Auguste Poulet-Malassis. Through this collaboration Rops came to befriend Charles Baudelaire who commissioned him to create the frontispiece to his Les Epaves in 1866. Beginning in the mid-1860s Rops also produced illustrations for the Gay and Doucé printing house, including illustrations for a minuscule edition of “Les Bas-Fonds de la Société.”

Baudelaire’s influence can be found in several major themes of Rops’ work, including the representations of death and disease in a female form. Rops was well known for his depictions of erotic scenes, often incorporating satyrs and devils. His work earned him the admiration of many of the most prominent Symbolist authors and he was reputed to be highly paid for illustrations of their work. He designed ten illustrations for Barbey d’Aurévilly’s short story collection, Les Diaboliques, in 1879, which were reproduced later in a separate edition and again in larger format. In 1882 Rops began work on a series of soft-ground etchings, never completed, called Les Sataniques .

During his lifetime Rops was celebrated for his work as an etcher. In 1896 the journal La Plume devoted an issue to Rops and a retrospective of his work was mounted at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris. Another exhibition followed later that year in Brussels. Rops died on August 23, 1898 at his home in Essonnes, France.

Biographical information was compiled from the following sources:

"Photography Expert Michael G. Wilson Becomes an Art Fund Fund Trustee." Artdaily.org, May 10, 2010, http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=37948&int_modo=1 (Accessed 7 November 2011).

British Museum, "François Nys," The British Museum, http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx (Accessed 22 November 2011).

Hoffman, Edith. “Félicien Rops.” In The Dictionary of Art . Edited by Jane Turner. New York: Macmillan, 1996.

Musée Rops, “Biography of Félicien Rops,” Musée Rops, http://museerops.be/espace/documents/Biographie_Rops_Eng.pdf (Accessed 1 November 2011).

Exteens, Maurice. “ROPS (Félicien).” In Dictionnaire biographique des artistes contemporains . Edited by René Edouard-Joseph. Paris : Librarie Grund, 1934.

From the guide to the The, Michael G. Wilson, collection of Félicien Rops letters and other material., circa 1864 - circa 1910, (Los Angeles County Museum of Art Balch Art Research Library)