Auguste-Louis Lepère was a French painter and etcher. Auguste Lepere is also considered the leader in the creative revival of wood engraving

Wood engraving

Wood engraving is a technique in printmaking where the "matrix" worked by the artist is a block of wood. It is a variety of woodcut and so a relief printing technique, where ink is applied to the face of the block and printed by using relatively low pressure. A normal engraving, like an etching,...

 in Europe.

Biography

At age thirteen, Auguste Louis Lepère began his artistic education in the Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 studio of the engraver, Smeeton. By the mid 1870's, Lepère had clearly emerged as one of the most renowned printmakers of his time.

Lepère focused mostly on daily life in both his etchings and wood engravings. He is now renowned for his innovations, such as the use of colored paper, or the combining of etching and wood engraving on the same print.
The last years of Auguste Lepere's life were given almost exclusively to wood engraving

Wood engraving

Wood engraving is a technique in printmaking where the "matrix" worked by the artist is a block of wood. It is a variety of woodcut and so a relief printing technique, where ink is applied to the face of the block and printed by using relatively low pressure. A normal engraving, like an etching,...

. In total his graphic oeuvre consists of over 150 etchings, over two hundred wood engravings and 14 lithographs.