CAMBRIDGE.- For the first time, in conjunction with its major Degas exhibition opening in October 2017, the Fitzwilliam Museum will exhibit its holdings of prints by his friend and fellow artist, Marcellin Desboutin (1823-1902).

Degas's Drinker: portraits by Marcellin Desboutin forms part of a season of events at the Fitzwilliam celebrating the art and times of Edgar Degas in the centenary of his death, complementing the major exhibition Degas: a passion for perfection.

Desboutin was the embodiment of the pipe-smoking bohemian artist in fin-de-siècle Paris, and he appears as a down-and-out drinker in Degas’s famous painting of the café scene from 1876, L’Absinthe . The exhibition sheds light on this lesser known yet active member of the artistic and literary circles that met in the so-called Impressionist cafés: initially the Guerbois and later the Nouvelle Athènes.

Desboutin’s drypoints, some made after photographs and others from life, tell the story of an artist reviving a print technique mastered by his hero, Rembrandt, and combining it with contemporary practices to create distinctively modern portraits of the people he knew.

Born into a wealthy family, Desboutin had a passion for art and writing. In his thirties he acquired a large property near Florence where he led a lavish lifestyle entertaining friends, painting, writing and amassing a considerable art collection. It was in Italy that he first encountered Degas. Destitute by the age of 50, he returned to Paris at an ideal moment, joining the emerging group of avant-garde and Impressionist artists. For the first time he needed to make money and he relied on his prints to provide a steady income. As a result, his mature years were his most prolific.

The Fitzwilliam’s collection of works by Desboutin is the largest in the world outside of Paris. It includes portraits of artists, writers, critics, friends and family, including famous figures such as Emile Zola, Gustave Courbet, Jean-Baptiste-Camile Corot, Puvis de Chavannes, and, of course, Degas. Desboutin and Degas shared a passion for printmaking and experimented with the medium in unique ways.

Drypoints could only be printed in very small numbers before the delicate plate wore down, so they were not widely distributed. Desboutin’s rare drypoints were his own impressions made before the portraits were reproduced in journals. Some of the Fitzwilliam’s prints are inscribed with personal dedications to his friends, making them the most intimate of gifts. Desboutin’s sensitively drawn portraits offer a very personal insight into the world of bohemian Paris at the end of the 19th century.

This exhibition is showing in conjunction with the major exhibition Degas: a passion for perfection (03 October 2017 - 14 January 2018) and the accompanying show Degas, Caricature and Modernity: Daumier, Gavarni, Keene (12 September 2017 - 4 Jan 2018).