Lock of the Canal Saint-Martin

Art Historical Context

Louis Auguste Lepère's *Lock of the Canal Saint* (1890, published 1910) captures a serene moment along one of Paris's iconic waterways, the Canal Saint-Martin. This wood engraving depicts the lock mechanism amid the canal's industrial charm, reflecting the blend of urban engineering and everyday life in late 19th-century France. Lepère, a leading figure in the French print revival specialized in meticulous wood engravings that the atmospheric quality of Impressionism through black-and-white precision, often portraying Parisian scenes with a poetic realism. Printed in black ink on luxurious cream Japanese tissue—a fine, absorbent paper favored by printmakers for its ability to hold intricate details—the small image (8.7 × 10 cm) invites close viewing. Wood engraving, Lepère's preferred medium, allowed for sharp lines and tonal gradations via end-grain wood blocks, distinguishing it from softer woodcuts and enabling reproduction of his nuanced textures, from rippling water to sturdy iron gates. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints and Drawings department, this work highlights Lepère's legacy in bridging fine art and illustration. Created during Paris's Belle Époque but published later, it preserves a vanishing industrial idyll, offering visitors a window into the city's hidden waterways and the enduring appeal of masterful printmaking.

About the Artist

Louis Auguste Lepère · 1849–1918

Louis-Auguste Lepère (1849–1918) was born in Paris on November 30 to the sculptor François Lepère, immersing him early in the artistic world. At age thirteen, he apprenticed in the studio of the English wood engraver Joseph Burn-Smeeton, training there from 1862 to 1867, and later attended drawing courses under Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran at the Petite École (now École nationale supérieure des art...