In the Snow

The small rituals of daily life were favorite subjects of the Nabis, a group of avant-garde artists active in the 1890s. Ker-Xavier Roussel rendered this dog-training scene in pure, flat shapes, with no indication of middle ground. He focused on the play of silhouettes-and the humorous fact that the prim foreground figure is someone the little dog will never please. This impression is most fascinating, however, for the drastic misprinting of the green ink. The shift to the right, resulting in blank trees and a green shadow along the main figure's profile, suggests that the paper was misaligned by the printer or accidentally moved while in the press. More likely, this was a trial proof that was never intended to leave printer Edouard Ancourt's workshop. It may have been used to check colors or the integrity of the lithographic stone before the final print was approved.