source for all of the above - the expressions and attitudes - priceless
This week's Sunday Salon has gone away from my recent British trend - just a blip - and gone across the Channel to showcase the charming and witty and keen-eyed caricatures of the French Belle Epoque artist Andre Guillaume (1873 - 1942). I discovered his work only recently - it made me laugh and what could be better than that?
Not to be taken too seriously, though the talent is prodigious, these works by Guillaume are meant to prod and to tickle, but only in that oh so sophisticated French way. I don't think they're mean-spirited at all - at least not the ones I'm show-casing. And that's part of their charm. Besides, no one ever recognizes themselves in carticature. It's our nature to always think it's the other fellow being portrayed.
Guillaume created posters alongside Jules Cheret and Toulouse Lautrec and others, at the height of the Belle Epoque 'poster craze' which helped turn Parisian boulevards into galleries of public art. He also worked for all the top Parisian magazines and newspapers, creating satirical drawings which lampooned the lives of French high society.
To read more about Andre Guillaume, please use this link.
Albert Guillaume - source
LOL
ReplyDeleteThey do indeed prod and tickle - much like reading a favourite scene by Dickens.
Now that you mention it, yes! :)
DeleteDear Yvette,
ReplyDeleteYes, I laughed out loud, too. Thanks so much for the close-ups of that first delightful image. I attend local orchestra concerts and see one or two of those very same people. Albert Guillaume strikes me as someone I'd enjoy as dinner company.
Keen-eyed and good-humored, for sure. I'd bet that he'd make a great dinner guest. :) But maybe too keen-eyed.
DeleteOOh, the satire in these paintings is fiendish. The ridiculous opulence and hypocrisy is so exposed by the excellent artist. And it is quite witty. (I need new glasses, so what I'm seeing is actually sillier than what is painted.)
ReplyDeleteThanks for another art lesson. Delightful to see these paintings.
Glad you enjoyed them, Kathy. I love them too. So much devilish fun.
DeleteYour blog, and your Pinterest boards, are so engaging. I sent your list of 101 mystery/thrillers to my book club so we could find some fun summer reads in between our "serious" discussions. And you know that serious discussions require wine. I'm also a big Sherlock Holmes fan.
ReplyDeleteHi Valya, thanks for dropping by and for the kind words. :) There are plenty of 'summer' style fun books on that list for sure. At least two or three glasses I'd have throught. Ha.
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