Terms and Conditions
The artist, title and date of the work must be listed anywhere the image is reproduced:
Félix Vallotton
The suicide (Le Suicide) 1894
woodcut
22.6 × 17.9 cm (block) 32.9 × 25.3 cm (sheet)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1966
Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Where possible, the image must be reproduced in full (no cropping or over-printing). If you wish to use a detail of the work, a full reproduction of the work must also be reproduced elsewhere in the publication.
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The suicide
(Le Suicide)
1894
Medium
woodcut
Measurements
22.6 × 17.9 cm (block) 32.9 × 25.3 cm (sheet)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1966
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work
In the late nineteenth century, French newspapers began publishing faits divers – brief accounts of unusual events involving ordinary people, such as brawls, suicides and crimes. With their dark subject matter and concise approach to storytelling, Félix Vallotton’s woodcuts draw influence from this popular form of reportage. Much like the crowd gathered on the bridge, the viewer contemplating The suicide takes on the role of badaud – a nineteenth-century urban social type that roughly translates to ‘gawker’. In the 1890s the voyeuristic interest of the badaud in social turmoil was seen by the left as a testament to the desensitising effects of modern society under capitalism. Vallotton’s prints challenge viewers to choose between accepting the role of passive bystander or becoming an active agitator for social change.
Artwork Details
Catalogue/s Raisonné
Vallotton & Goerg 143.b
Edition
ed. 70/90 (nos 31-90 second state)
Inscription
inscribed in blue pencil l.r.: F Vallotton 70
printed in ink (in image) l.l.: FV
printed in ink (in image) l.r: LE SUICIDF
Accession Number
1577-5
Departments
International Prints / International Prints and Drawings
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Joe White Bequest
Subjects (general)
Cityscapes Structures Violence
Subjects (specific)
arches bridges (built works) deaths night rivers suicides