Picture of frustration: detail, hand-tinted wood engraving of early photographers, wearing plumed hats and capes but seen as monkeys by radical French political and social satirist Grandville (1803-47). The uptight creatives, waiting for an assistant to wash their photographic plates, appear in ‘Scenes of the Private and Public Life of Animals’ (Paris, 1842), in which Grandville depicted animals in many more human roles.
Paris, Île-de-France, France: plumed hats, fine capes but monkey faces … early photographers using wooden box cameras, as seen in this detail of an artwork by French satirical artist, illustrator and caricaturist, Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard (1803-1847), better known by the pseudonym Grandville. The bohemian-style photographers seem unable to hide their frustration as they wait, one with folded arms and another with hand on hip, for a simian assistant toiling beneath them to finish washing their photographic plates. This image is a detail of a hand-tinted print of one of the 320 Grandville wood engravings in ‘Scènes de la Vie privée et publique des animaux’ (Scenes of the Private and Public Life of Animals). This compilation of articles and short stories was first released in serial form and then published in Paris in 1842 as a two-volume set. It sold 25,000 copies - at least 20,000 more than first edition works by one of its other contributors, Honoré de Balzac. Jean Gérard, born in Nancy, was a prolific radical artist famous for his political Grandville cartoons and caricatures. He engaged in satirical republican campaigns against the Bourbon monarchy and fought official attempts to intimidate and censor him. Grandville was also a keen social commentator who often - as in this artwork - satirised French bourgeois society by depicting animals fulfilling human roles and tasks. Long after his death, he was regarded as a key influence on the 20th century Surrealist movement. Grandville has been called “the first star of French caricature’s great age” and has also prompted the comment: “His perverse vision sought the monster in everyone.”
Size: 4230px × 2820px
Location: Paris, Île-de-France, France.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1800s, 1803-1847, 1840s, 1842, 19th, animals, animaux, antique, arms, arrogant, art, artist, artwork, book, bourgeoisie, box, cameras, caricature, caricaturist, cartoonist, century, cloaks, coloured, , de, des, detail, early, engraving, folded, format, france, french, frustrated, frustration, grandville, hand, hats, hip, ignace, impatient, isidore, jean, kerr, la, large, life, monkeys, paris, photographers, photography, plate, plumed, political, portrait, private, privé, proto-surrealist, pseudonym, public, publique, radical, republican, satire, satirical, satirist, scènes, service, simian, slow, social, surrealism, terence, tired, uptight, vie, vintage, waiting, wearing, wood, woodcut, wooden, érard
