Félicien Rops

Rops’s etchings were actively sought after by collectors—probably due, in part, to the sexual suggestiveness of images such as this pair. Two fashionable women are seen kissing in a wooded area of the Bois de Boulogne, a Parisian park, hinting at a secret meeting. Rops often made prints in many states with varied tonalities, such as the near reversal in coloration seen here. He accomplished this shift by leaving ink on the surface of the plate while reprinting. In addition to formal experimentation, such variation was a savvy marketing strategy, and enthusiasts of Rops’s work often worked to obtain many or all existing states of his prints.