Petit air, sonnet
Medium
lithograph in brown on heavy japan paper
Dimensions
sheet: 37.9 x 28.2 cm (14 15/16 x 11 1/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Virginia and Ira Jackson Collection, gift in memory of Virginia H. Jackson
Accession Number
1996.151.5
Art Historical Context
**Petit air, sonnet** (1894) is a captivating collaboration between French Symbolist painter Maurice Denis and poet Stéphane Mallarmé. This lithograph in brown ink on heavy japan paper measures 37.9 x 28.2 cm and the fin-de-siècle fusion of visual art and poetry. Denis, a key figure in the Nabi movement—which emphasized decorative, symbolic forms and flat color—created this print to accompany Mallarmé's delicate sonnet, evokinglike atmospheres through subtle tonal gradients and flowing lines characteristic of lithography's painterly potential. Printed on luxurious japan paper, prized for its ...