Gavarni
Paris Le Soir - Plate 20
Lithograph printed on newsprint with text on
reverse as published in Le Charivari circa 1840.
Image of a theatre lover regretting his friends
lack of appreciation for Moliere. The text reads:
"Commes ils se sont amuses .. avec le
sot roman! au lieu de veinr avec moi a la Comedie
Francaise, ils auraient vu Georges Dandin, les
nigauds!"
Rough Translation: "How they amused themselves
with their silly novel...instead of coming with
me to the Comedie Francaise... they could have
seen Georges Dandin [a play by Moliere], the
fools!"
Price: $ 85
Condition: Bright clear image. Light
toning. light crease across center. Rough edges
with a few small tears at margins (outside of
image.)
About Paul Gavarni
Gavarni was the pseudonym of Paul Sulpice Guillaume
Chevalier (1804–66) a prolific French caricaturist
and lithographer. One of the most popular artists
of the 19th Century, Gavarni first became known
for his amusing fashion drawings, which appeared
in La Mode.
Gavarni led the classic bohemian lifestyle
that he so often depicted in his work, drinking,
dancing and socializing into the Paris night.
He developed close friendships with many other
leading artists and writers of his time including
Honoré Balzac, Charles Dickens and William
Makepeace Thackeray. His works were collected
by Queen Victoria, as well as by Edgar Degas
and Vincent Van Gogh and influenced the work
of the the American artist James McNeil Whistler.
At one time he was known as the "most elegant
man in France."
Gavarni's many-year collaboration with the popular magazine Le Charivari
- to which Daumier and other caricaturists of the day also contributed -
represented the pinnacle of his career. Working continuously from 1838 to 1844
he produced over 900 prints illustrating Parisian life with great wit, charm
and satire.
But Gavarni also had a serious side. In 1847 he spent a year in London, turning
his back on London high society which courted him, in favor of the impoverished
milieus around Whitechapel whose residents he depicted in some of his best work.
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