RIVIÈRE Henri (Paris 1864 † 1951 Sucy-en-Brie). [The Wave]. Circa 1891. Engraved wood. Rare japanese state proof of the draft plate, printed with rubbing. All margins. 35 x 52.5 cm (sheet). Condition B (small marginal accidents; dusty strip of paper around the edge of the sheet; one horizontal broken fold at the head; broken fold at the lower left corner). A preparatory watercolour sketch of this subject is kept at the BnF: it is part of a sketchbook dated summer 1891, containing several studies of waves, taken at Loguivy, Paimpol, Trestraou, La Clarté, Perros-Guirec, Ploumanac'h, Port Blanc and Penvénan. In addition, Henri Rivière reprinted this composition in lithography for the fourth delivery of the original print, in 1893. Ref : V. Sueur-Hermel (dir.), Henri Rivière : entre impressionnisme et japonisme, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, 2009, n°39, p. 83. And : P. Eckert Boyer and P. Dennis Cate, l'Estampe originale. Artistic Printmaking in France, exhibition catalogue, Waander Publishers, Zwolle, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, 1991, No. 69, p. 111.