Numa Guyot- Founder N. Guyot & Sons
"Unfortunately" for Numa he took up the etching and engraving steel and copper plates at the time this media was waning. New photographic techniques had eliminated the need for the plate makers in commercial printing, although the skills he learned would serve him well.
It is also interesting that even though there was no market for his plates he continued on with his passion creating three magical and powerful prints. In a style as neat and precise as the illustrative works of the great Jacques Callot, Numa's painstaking attention to detail almost overwhelms viewers, before they are gripped with the energy and humanness reminiscent of Rembrandt.
Those familiar with the works of Callot will see his influence but with two very striking differences. The first is Numa's the passion. The second being Numa's extravagant imagination.
Callot, Abrahame Bosse, and Sebasian LeCerc were great commercial plate makers. Even casual study of their subjects ranging from LeClerc's illustrations of the building of the Lourve to Callot's "Fair at Impruneta" shows they were intended to present the "news" and not their imaginations. As a result these and their other brilliant works, done with a "Precision seen only by a discerning few", lack the passion and humanness that Numa was able to bring to his works.
Numa’s imagination allowed him to remove himself from the harsh realities required of the other engravers and allowed him to tell his version of a story full of elegance and grace.
Numa and King Neptune
If you look at these prints in the order in which they were made, you can also see perhaps, the story of a young man’s life. The first print made in 1887, is almost like it’s the view of a youth into the real world, beauty is seen not only in the birds and the flowers that surround the gate, but in King Neptune's promise shown in the sea and exotic villages beyond.
Numa and The Green Man
When you proceed to the second print, created in 1892, perhaps you can see the turmoil the young man feels as he turns to adulthood or searches for a new life.. You can still see the beauty, along with a strong sense of strength and symmetry, but at the same time you can see the danger and the risk. The draw of far away places expressed not only in the "village beyond" but the texture of the ferns and flora as well all under the watchful gaze of the Green Man.
Numa's daring adventure
When you look at the third unfinished print, circa unknown, you can see that it clearly shows a daring adventure. Perhaps Numa was dreaming of his family's move to America ?
When you first view these prints, it is quite easy to be mesmerized by a sense
of childlike wonder. Then suddenly, you find yourself overwhelmed by the extravagant detail of
this fascinating temptation. These fantastic prints magically become part of your life with their hypnotic
promise and leave you spellbound with the powerful revelation that something may
have just pierced your soul.
Numa Guyot made magic with his engraving tools and a blank sheet of copper. The skills and workmanship that went into these etchings are the cornerstone of the Guyot Brothers Co Inc ornamental stamping line.
Looking
for that other Numa,
may we suggest you continue your search here.....