Le Bourg de Perros-Guirec - Henri Rivière

A serene colour lithograph by Henri Rivière, capturing a rural scene in Brittany with the clean lines and flat colour planes characteristic of Japonisme.

Henri Rivière was a central figure in the late nineteenth-century French printmaking revival. This work, depicting the village of Perros-Guirec in Brittany, demonstrates his mastery of the colour lithograph. Rivière drew significant inspiration from Japanese woodblock prints, particularly the works of Hokusai and Hiroshige. He adopted their flat planes of colour, bold outlines, and simplified compositions to capture the atmosphere of the French countryside.

The scene shows a woman carrying a child, accompanied by a young boy, walking along a path through a golden wheat field. In the distance, the modest buildings of the village are rendered with minimal detail, allowing the viewer to focus on the quiet rhythm of rural life. The palette is restrained, relying on soft ochres, muted blues, and earthy tones to convey the coastal light of Brittany. The composition is balanced, with the figures providing a sense of scale against the expansive horizon.

Rivière produced this piece as part of his broader exploration of French topography. His approach avoids excessive ornamentation, favouring a clean, graphic clarity that was highly modern for the period. The influence of Ukiyo-e is evident in the way the clouds are stylised and the foreground is treated as a decorative element. This print offers a glimpse into the intersection of European post-impressionist sensibilities and Eastern aesthetic principles. It remains a clear example of how artists of the era reinterpreted traditional subjects through a new, simplified visual language.