Felix Vallotton (1865-1925)

Félix Edouard Vallotton was a Swiss/French painter and printmaker associated with Les Nabis. He was an important figure in the development of the modern woodcut.  

He attended the Collège Cantonal in Lausanne, graduating with a degree in classical studies in 1882. In that year, he moved to Paris to study art under Jules Joseph Lefebvre and Gustave Boulanger, at the Académie Julian.

He spent many hours in the Louvre, where he greatly admired the works of Holbein, Dürer, and Ingres; these artists would remain exemplars for Vallotton throughout his life. Vallotton’s earliest paintings, chiefly portraits, are firmly rooted in the academic tradition.