The Duet (Le duo)

Gustave Leheutre is a little-known French printmaker whose work reflects the powerful influence of American expatriate artist James McNeill Whistler. Leheutre made about 170 prints, of which the vast majority are landscapes in black and white. The Duet is therefore unusual in his oeuvre both for its subject matter and for its medium, color drypoint. In this rare color print, Leheutre may have been following the example of Mary Cassatt, another American expatriate artist. The wispy, fugitive nature of the medium suitably evokes the ephemeral quality of music itself. In the nineteenth century, music in the home served as both a form of entertainment and a cornerstone of bourgeois girls’ education. Leheutre’s print, apparently a straightforward image of dutiful girls preparing to play music, retains a certain ambiguity as to whether the two figures (who look eerily alike) are two sisters or two views of the same girl.