Maybe it's got something to do with language but when it comes
to popular culture here in Britain we seem to be far more interested in
what's happening in the USA than what our neighbours in France are up to.
It's certainly true of illustration so I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea
to shine a light on illustrators past and present on the other side of the channel.
Like the rest of Europe the history of French illustration begins with
Gutenberg's invention of the printing press in the middle of the 15th century.
Predictably the earliest efforts were technically and aesthetically crude.
And the first signs of more subtle and imaginative work came in the
early 16th century with a book of comic and occasionally disturbing fantasy characters
The Dreams of Pantagruel published in 1585 by Richard Breton and Francois Desprez.
In the same time-frame Jaques Patin was producing more compositionally
ambitious and complex images using the same wood engraving technique.
And by the time we get to Hubert Gravelot just over a century later there's a clear
demonstration of a much more visually sophisticated approach which contained
many of the more naturalistic elements we associate with modern illustration.
Born in 1803 Antoine Johannot - known more commonly as Tony - was a particularly significant
figure in the development of illustration as a more expressive and emotional medium.
In his lifetime Johannot illustrated many works of literature and although
it was far from usual to do so did most of his own engraving.
And it was of a technical quality and level of detail not previously seen.
But arguably Johannot's greatest achievement was to lead the way in the development of
narrative illustrations and its power to illuminate text.
In the early 19th century quite a few of Tony Johannot's contemporaries were abandoning the
technique of engraving in favour of the recently invented and far more subtle lithographic process.
Jean Gérard, who used the pseudonym Jean-Jacques
Grandville, was a highly talented comic illustrator and caricaturist who was among
the first to harness lithography's ability to reproduce tonal shading.
This allowed for a more faithful reproduction of his sensitively drawn comic images.
Much of Grandville's work and those who followed soon after was published in the
immensely popular and influential Le Charivari magazine, which first appeared in Paris in 1832.
Only a few years Grandville's junior Honoré Daumier rivalled his success
with a series of satirical political and social cartoons and caricatures which also
used the lithographic process with great success.
And this was just a sideline for Daumier as he was also one of the most admired artists of his time.
And so was Gustave Doré.
Born in 1832, Doré's talent and skill was so pronounced that by
the age of 15 he was already working as a professional caricaturist and cartoonist,
which he continued to do throughout his life.
But his most significant achievement was his
body of dramatic illustration for major works of literature.
It seems perverse given what lithography was capable of that Doré favoured engraving
in the reproduction of his work, but his astonishingly subtle illustrations have no equal.
And the compositional skill and facility to create lighting effects in monochrome mark him
out as a uniquely talented illustrator of immense international importance.
The first of Jules Verne's fantasy adventure novels was
published in 1863 and dozens more followed over the next 40 years.
And in that period three prominent and remarkably similar illustrators were commissioned to
visualise these outlandish stories, all of which were reproduced by engraving.
Chronologically, Edouard Riou was the first of the three with several novels to his credit.
And a couple of decades later the younger illustrator George
Roux was commissioned to illustrate a handful of the later adventures.
But Leon Benett was arguably the most popular and certainly the most prolific,
with twenty five volumes to his credit.
Of the three Benett's images came closest to mimicking the dramatic composition,
illumination and dynamic energy seen in Doré's influential work.
Although he was every bit as capable their contemporary Émile-Antoine Bayard
didn't illustrate Jules Verne, but his engraved images featured
in a number of other novels of the time, including Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.
His poignant image of the child character Cosette has become iconic
in our time due to it being hijacked for the branding of the modern stage musical.
But despite there being no shortage of illustrative talent the second half of
the 19th century in France was largely dominated by the work of Jules Chéret.
Born in 1836 Chéret is a pivotal figure in the history of illustration for two main reasons.
He was the first illustrator to get to grips with the creative demands and possibilities of
poster advertising, particularly the combining of letterform and image and the selective nature
of what should or shouldn't be included in the illustration for maximum impact .
Additionally he was one of the first - if not the
first - to successfully use limited colour in his lithographic images.
He had studied and practised the process in London and learned how to selectively
and laboriously etch a series of lithographic stones to create an illusion of full colour.
Chéret's depictions of modern free-spirited females, known affectionately throughout
France as Les Cherettes, were used to sell all manner of products and
he rapidly became a major force in the early years of the advertising industry.
At the same time others were making use of the same hybrid print process
André Gill was both well known and notorious for his caricature work
in the weekly newspaper La Lune, in which he drew remarkably accomplished comic portraits,
invariably using the big head on a small body technique now accepted as essential in caricature.
When La Lune was banned by Emporer Napoleon the Third, he moved on to its somewhat less
controversial successor L'Éclipse, and of course the ubiquitous Charivari.
But unlike Chéret, in Gill's case the colour was clumsily added by
the printers and did little to enhance the underlying value of the line work.
Isabelle de Tessier, born in 1847 was that rarest of creatures - a female cartoonist.
She worked under the pseudonym Marie Duval, and although french by birth she worked in London, and
with her husband Charles Ross created and drew the massively successful comic character Ally Sloper.
Duval also produced numerous spot illustrations,
cartoons and full page strips and was the author of Queens and Kings and Other Things,
published under yet another pseudonym Princess Hesse Schwartzbourg.
Albert Robida began his career as a cartoonist and for twelve
years he was the editor of La Caricature magazine.
But in the 1880s he created an acclaimed trilogy
of futuristic illustrated novels which were extremely successful at the time.
And his considerable skills as a science fantasy artist were showcased in a series of remarkably
visionary monochrome illustrations of a type now referred to as steampunk.
Emmanuel Poiré was born in 1858 in Moscow,
but emigrated to France as a young man and adopted the pen name Caran d’Ache
His approach to illustration was far simpler and blockishly graphic than that of his more
subtle crosshatching contemporaries, and although his commitment to this style led
to some remarkably inexpressive illustration from time to time Caran d'Ache was nevertheless
extremely influential in ushering in the later spread of the flat modernist style.
In Paris he gained great popularity as a contributor to several magazines including
the recently established Le Rire, in which he was one of the first to
explore the creative possibilities of the narrative strip cartoon .
But he was by no means alone, stylistically speaking.
Born in the same year as Caran d'Ache, Fernand Fau had a similar quirky graphic
style which also featured in Le Rire and other magazines.
Additionally Fau was successful in children's book work and
was also able to create more sensitively drawn illustration if called on to do so.
Benjamin Rabier is probably best known as the creator of the La Vache Qui Rit logo,
which is still in use more than a century later.
Rabier started submitting work for various newspapers after meeting his hero Caran d'Ache.
And the influence on his style is clear in
the strong expressive outlines and application of flat colour.
From 1887 onwards he created a long running series
of highly successful stories for children using the same technique.
Most of these were charming rural tales of the animal kingdom and
his creation Gideon the Duck proved particularly successful and enduring.
Henri Gerbault originally set out to become a
serious artist but when it became clear this wasn't going to happen
he began submitting satirical cartoons to various newspapers and magazines instead.
The response to this was considerably more positive and his work was subsequently
published in magazines such as La Vie Parisienne, and Le Journal Amusant
Gerbault had a particularly expressive linear style and was best known for
his provocative young ladies and humorous social situation comedy.
Théophile Steinlen had been a textile designer in eastern France. but when he moved to the bohemian
artistic community of Montmartre in Paris he quickly became a successful illustrator
of posters, mostly connected with the Parisian nightlife he was immersed in.
He was also a regular in the covers and pages of many French magazines including Le Rire,
which was by now overtaking Le Charivari in popularity.
In the 1880s and 90s Georges Goursat also produced many caricatures and other comic
illustrations for most of the popular Parisian magazines using the name Sem.
All his work was a satirical record of the lives of the rich and privileged of Parisian society,
who were generally delighted by his affectionate mockery
and before long Sem became part of that elite glamorous social circle.
Despite being an illustrator of considerable talent Sem's
contemporary Martin van Maële was and continues to be largely unknown.
This is mainly due to the sexual nature of most of his output.
Even the liberated Parisians would only publish
his milder erotic work in La Vie Parisienne and Le Rire.
But most of his book illustration was sold furtively in plain brown wrappers
because of the sexually explicit nature of the images and text.
Born into an aristocratic family in 1864 Henri de Toulouse Lautrec only made it to
the age of 37 due to a combination of physical disability, syphilis and chronic alcoholism.
Like virtually everyone else he regularly provided illustrations
for Le Rire but it is his poster work for which he is most recognised.
His illustration style was strongly influenced by the poster art of Jules Chéret,
Theophile Steinlen and the prints of Japanese artists such as Hokusai.
And like Chéret, Lautrec's creative use of lithography and understanding of the
functionality of the poster mark him out as one of the most significant illustrators,
not just in France but internationally.
Which makes for a good place to wind up this first part of the history of French
illustration and we’ll pick up next time at the start of the 20th century.