Description

PUBLICATION DETAILS: This offer is for Numbers 1 through 6 [except 5) from a series of 6 pieces published under the title Un Couplet de Vaudeville. These images appeared in the illustrated magazine Le Charivari, July 1839. Images are 7 ¼”w x 8 ¾ on sheets 11” w x 14 ½” h.  At top center on all: Un Couplet de Vaudeville [and a number].  At lower center on all: Par Gavarni.  Gavarni’s name or initial can also be seen in reverse on the images followed by the number “39”, indicating the year he prepared the lithograph.  At the lower right: Am Bureau du Charivari R. du Croissant 16, the publisher.   At the left: Imp d’Aubert & C^ie. [Company], the printer.  The text verso includes the name of the magazine, Le Charivari, in which his lithographs were published.  French text verso.
 
LITHOGRAPHS: [Leading numbers 1-5 relate to our images.]
 
[1] Un Couplet de Vaudeville N^o. 1. 
 
[2] Un Couplet de Vaudeville N^o. 2. 
 
[3] Un Couplet de Vaudeville N^o.  3Le Mercredi l’ou peint sa flamme.
 
[4] Un Couplet de Vaudeville N^o.  4
 
[5] Un Couplet de Vaudeville No. 6. On se quitte le samedi […],
 
GAVARNI: Paul Gavarni was the nom de plume of Sulpice Guillaume Chevalier (born 1801 or 1804; died 1866), a French caricaturist, water colorist and lithographer.  He began life as an engineering draftsman, but turned his attention to caricature and   began a series of lithographed sketches, in which he portrayed the most striking characteristics, foibles and vices of the various classes of French society. He was first known for his amusing drawings of costumes, which appeared in La Mode.  Most of his best work appeared in Le Charivari in which this group was published.  He had been invited by the editor François Caboche to draw for the magazine. Gavarni had never drawn caricatures and was reluctant to accept the request but was persuaded to submit some drawings for approval. This he did and they were accepted but he didn’t care for the captions which had been added by the magazine editors. Thereafter, he started writing his own captions (Wikipedia).
 
LE CHARIVARI was an illustrated magazine published in Paris from 1832 to 1937.  At first, Le Charivari published caricatures, political cartoons and reviews.  However, in 1835 the government banned political caricature, and Le Charivari began publishing satires of everyday life (Wikipedia). 
 
GAVARNI’S TRIP TO LONDON: Gavarni had intended to stay clear of serious political subjects; however, his last work, published mostly in the weekly paper L’Illustration, reflects the bitter attitude he developed during a trip to London in 1847.  He had returned from London deeply impressed with the scenes of misery and degradation which he had observed among the lower classes in that city.  That trip resulted in his drawings strongly condemning working-class conditions there.  In 1857 he published the series entitled Masques et visages in one volume, and in 1869 his last artistic work, Les Douze Mois, was published posthumously.  He had produced some 4000 lithographs for satirical journals and fashion magazines, out of a lifetime total of 8,000 drawings, watercolors, and lithographs (Wikipedia).
 
CONDITION: Images very good. All have full margins. Edges of the sheets are toned and some are slightly irregular.