DATABASE: Achille Ouvré

Achille Ouvré (1872-1951) was born in Paris in 1872. Unlike so many other engravers, he was a fiercely independent person and worked on his own, developing his skills in design and composition without a teacher or master, at the Colarossi Academy in Montparnasse, a private school which was regarded as an alternative to the School of Fine Arts.

His amiable nature made him many friends in cultural Paris, among artists, musicians and writers. This gave him the opportunity to portray them all. Contemporaries such as Ravel and Sarah Bernhardt were most eager to pose for him. Ouvré managed to not only convey a perfect likeness of his subject, but somehow also managed to catch a person’s soul, their personality. It could be said that Ouvré’s strength was to portray things and people as they were, without any romantic veil, making him an early-day documentary maker.

He was a staunch admirer of Holbein the Younger. Ouvré appreciated the master’s rigorous use of lines, and the way Holbein scrutinised a face. Another main influence, especially when it came to non-portrait work, were Japanese painters. Hiroshige’s depiction of the outside world, in particular, was something Ouvré admired.

During his lifetime, Ouvré’s portrait engravings graced the many Salon d’Automne exhibitions in Paris, of which he would later be its President for some 25 years.

Besides his portraits, Achille Ouvré was famous for his many book illustrations dating from the early 20th century. His wood engraved portraits especially are well known. Among his important oeuvre are books by Gustave Flaubert and even Oscar Wilde which he illustrated. His two most famous books are the De Profundis Clamavi and Hindous au Camp Anglais, a scarce series of studies of Hindu soldiers, etched in 1915.

It was only in his 62nd year, when he reached the age of retirement, that Ouvré started engraving stamps for France. His first issued stamp was of course a portrait stamp. It was the 1934 single stamp issue to mark the death centenary of Joseph Marie Jacquard, the French weaver. More than 50 stamps were to follow.

It is no wonder that many of Ouvré’s stamps are portrait stamps. It was probably the subject matter he enjoyed most. Again, many a famous name was portrayed by Ouvré on stamps, such as Hector Berlioz, Victor Hugo and Jean Racine. In some of the portraits, the Holbein inspiration is very obvious, such as the 1934 issue to mark the fourth centenary of Cartier’s discovery of Canada. The beautiful portrait of Jacques Cartier looks to have been painted by Holbein himself! Other highlights in Ouvré’s stamp portfolio are the portrait stamps he engraved for the charity stamps for the Unemployed Intellectuals’ Relief Fund which were issued in the late 1930s.

Though the majority of Ouvré’s work comprises portrait stamps, he has also worked on a number of other stamps, such as the 1939 issue to mark the 23rd anniversary of the Battle of Verdun, and a 1939 definitive depicting a bridge in Lyon.

Ouvré also engraved the 1936 airmail set, depicting a Caudron C-635 over Paris. The design, which was also his, would later that same year be used for that most famous 50f airmail stamp of France, with the burelé background, but that particular stamps would be engraved by someone else.

Time may not have been too kind on Ouvré and his name may no longer ring a bell with many, but in his lifetime, as a mark of respect for his artistic work, Ouvré was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur and in 1952 he also received the grand prix of the École des Arts Décoratifs.

 
This article was first published in Stamp and Coin Mart of May 2013 and is reproduced with their kind permission. 

STAMPS BY YEAR

1934

France, Jacquard
France, Jacques Cartier
France, Blériot's flight

1935
France, Victor Hugo
France, Cardinal Richelieu
France, Callot
France, Unemployed intellectuals fund 50c+2f

1936

Andorra (French),  Definitives
France, Air
France, Nansen fund
France, Jaures
France, Unemployed intellectuals fund
Ivory Coast, Definitives

1937
France, Railway congress
France, Public health fund
Monaco, Definitive

1938
France, Military medical corps
France, Clement Ader
France, Jean de la Fontaine
French Somali Coast, Definitives

1939

France, Paul Cezanne
France, Battle of Verdun
France, Lyons
French Morocco, Definitives
Monaco, National relief

1940
France, war charities
France, G. Guyerner

1941

France, Winter relief fund
France, National relief fund
Monaco, Definitives

1942
France, Chabrier
France, National relief fund
Monaco, National relief fund

1943
France, Lavoisier
France, National relief fund

1944

Andorra (French), Definitives

1945
France, Fresh air crusade
Germany (Allied Occupation), Poets

1946
France, National relief fund
Germany (Allied Occupation), Poets

1947
France, UPU congress
France, Pavie centenary

1948
France, National relief fund
Monaco, Olympic games

1949

France, Jean Racine
France, CITT Paris
France, National relief fund

1950
France, National relief fund
France, Madame de Sévigné

1951
France, National relief fund
Monaco, Holy year