Headquarters of the Société des Aquafortistes

Headquarters of the Société des Aquafortistes

Adolphe Martial Potémont, called Martial

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

From 1862 onward, the Société des Aquafortistes promoted etching as a means of expression equal in prestige to painting and drawing. The organization ran a studio for instructing prospective etchers, produced a yearly publication promoting original prints, and sold works by participating artists from its Parisian headquarters. The shop itself was a popular destination, as is clearly indicated by the elegantly dressed crowd seen in Martial’s print, which was included in the society's 1865 album, Eaux-fortes modernes.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.