J. J. Grandville's work is central to any understanding of modern Parisian culture during the Romantic Age. His early embrace of lithography, delight in the far reaches of the imagination, and fierce commitment to liberal politics sets him apart from hispeers. Not even Daumier, with his Balzacian wit, perceptive powers of observation, and vigorous and descriptive graphic line could compare ... Read moreto the bohemian-influenced, satiric range of Grandville's pen drawings and lithographs. In many ways, the impudent,whip whirling gnomish figure on the masthead of the satirical journal La Caricature stands as Grandville's self-image: delighting in the masquerade of carnival, he revels in the humiliation of the staid, self-important, bourgeoisie. Clive Getty has already published a ground breaking study of Grandville's drawings, Grandville: Dessins originaux (Nancy, 1986). And now he has turned his encyclopedic knowledge of the artist's life and work to the publication of Grandville's Missouri Album, a little known album of drawings many of them intimate sketches, almost doodles, of initial ideas with excerpts of the artist's diaries. The album gives us insight into the culture and preoccupation of this quintessential Romantic artist, from the social whirl of soires to
James Cuno, Art Institute of Chicago J. J. Grandville's work is central to any understanding of modern Parisian culture during the Romantic Age. His early embrace of lithography, delight in the far reaches of the imagination, and fierce commitment to liberal politics sets him apart from his peers. Not even Daumier, with his Balzacian wit, perceptive powers of observation, and vigorous and descriptive graphic line could compare to the bohemian-influenced, satiric range of Grandville's pen drawings and lithographs. In many ways, the impudent,whip whirling gnomish figure on the masthead of the satirical journal La Caricature stands as Grandville's self-image: delighting in the masquerade of carnival, he revels in the humiliation of the staid, self-important, bourgeoisie. Clive Getty has already published a ground breaking study of Grandville's drawings, Grandville: Dessins originaux (Nancy, 1986). And now he has turned his encyclopedic knowledge of the artist's life and work to the publication of Grandville's Missouri Album, a little known album of drawings many of them intimate sketches, almost doodles, of initial ideas with excerpts of the artist's diaries. The album gives us insight into the culture and preoccupation of this quintessential Romantic artist, from the social whirl of soires to the cafe disputes of oppositional politics to visits to the Jardin des Plantes and the Tuileries Gardens. This book makes a most valuable contribution to our understanding of the artistic culture of Paris at the turn of the July Monarchy, and should be read by anyone interested in the world of Balzac, Hugo, and even the emerging Baudelaire. They all intersect in the imaginative universe of J. J. Grandville.
James Cuno, Art Institute of Chicago This volume combines a short biography of the life of French caricaturist and book illustrator J.J. Grandville (1803-1847) with a systematic catalog of a previously unexamined album of his drawings from the years 1830 to 1846 in the Special Collections of the U. of Missouri-Columbia Libraries. The album is notable for more than just the drawings in that it also contains a significant number of excerpts from Grandville's diaries and thus allow for a fuller understanding of Grandville's life and work.
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