19th Major Century Caricaturists are screened
Since we told about the great French caricaturist Paul Gavarni on Monday, we’ve decided to lpresent also the work of his contemporaries through a thorough book. The exhibition «Pour rire… Daumier, Gavarni, Rops, l’invention de la silhouette» shown few months ago, at the Museum of History and Modern Art Louis-Senlecq of l’Isle-Adam, has been particularly appreciated thanks to its important collection of drawings, stone carving and paintings straight out from imagination and observation of three major caricaturists: Honoré Daumier, Paul Gavarni and Félicien Rops. The catalog printed for the occasion made a lasting impression on everybody.

Photo credit: Honoré Daumier (1808-1879), Ingrate patrie, tu n’auras pas mon oeuvre !, série Actualités, 1840 (Collection of l’ENSBA).
A Caricatural Book
As the exhibition says, the book talks about life of these three artists and examines their vision, sometimes cynical but often funny and tender of their period. The crinoline is invading the sidewalks of Paris, courtesans and other women of easy virtue, speculators and lawyers, bourgeois and the lower classes, we plunge into the 19th century and caricature spares anybody, all social classes and sometimes even artists are touched. Under the reign of Louis-Philippe, characters described by the acerbic look of these genius have provoked scandals. The books makes cleverly the parallelism of the evolution of their works, thanks to many reproductions and analysis.

Photo credit: Honoré Daumier, in “Moeurs conjugales”, 1840 / Ecole nationale des beaux-arts, Paris.

Photo credit: Paul Gavarni, Une fadaise sur une falaise, 1839/Ecole nationale de beaux-arts, Paris.
Exhibition Catalog «Pour rire… Daumier, Gavarni, Rops, l’invention de la silhouette», published by the Félicien Rops Museum from Namur, Belgium (September 24th 2010 – January 9th 2011) and the Museum of History and Mondern Art Louis-Senlecq of L’Isle-Adam, France (April 9th – September 18th 2011). Author: Ségolène Le Men. 240 pages / 160 illustrations. €34.
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