Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard Grandville

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Known as J. J., Grandville was an artist specializing in fantastic pictures and skewering the current mores.  Here is a strutting rooster.


 I love the rabbit on kettledrums.  This seems to be just whimsy.


The ragman.  This has no political significance that I can find.


Family of Beetles.  This is not a ringing endorsement of the church.


Going to the banquet.  Upper class mockery.


Misery, Hypocrisy, Greed.  The aristocratic cat mourns the approaching death of his natural prey, the rat, who is dying in poverty.  A priest, a judge, and a policeman are shown as ravens waiting their turn for the spoils.  Had this not been drawn as a 'funny animal' picture the censors would have blocked the publication.  
 It is against the backdrop of press censorship and royal repression that Daumier created his searing indictment of an incident that occurred in Paris, April 15 1834, where a group of soldiers were allegedly fired upon from the upper story of number 12 Rue Transonian, and who then killed or wounded 36 civilians in retaliation.  12 dead.


Most of the copies of this and the litho stone were seized and destroyed.  Daumier had already done 6 months for insulting the king by showing him as Gargantua eating his subjects
France was in turmoil. 


Everyone is pretending to be something else.  Social satire.


Wolves don't eat wolves.  The legal profession.


A cat with pretensions of gallantry ignores his obligations.  Anti - government cartoon.


The bourgeoisie.


Illustration for a La Fontaine story.  The dog looks suspiciously like John Bull.


John Bull.


Title page, The Metamorphoses of the Day.  1829, Paris.  And here is the entire book -



My master, obstinately called.  I don't know how this idiom exactly translates, although I imagine 'My so-called master' works just fine.   Louis Phillipe as a fat peacock.


I was introduced to Grandville by that excellent artist, Andrew the Bee.  One of the founders of Hybrid! Anthro On-line, he really knows his onions.



 Au revoir.

Comments

  1. AndibiMarch 20, 2020 at 3:40 PM

    I love that toad -- Never seen it before! Great post -- Grandville was the man!

    (Thanks for the plug, too!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. chaosfive55March 20, 2020 at 6:54 PM

    What's new, Bunny? I miss our chats, have you re-considered joining DA simply for the conversation? I am sure we would all love to hear from you again.
    Hope you're thriving and surviving in these challenging days.

    ReplyDelete

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