FRENCH ILLUSTRATION.
The nearer we approach our own time, the more difficult it becomes to
write of illustration. For, although it is the duty of an editor, and
even of an artist, to note all that is going on around him, at the
present time this is almost impossible, so great is the output from the
press, so varying are the fortunes of many artists. The man who, one
day, promises to revolutionize all illustration, the next, disappears,
or, worse still, becomes absolutely common-place. And process supersedes
process with a rapidity that is perfectly bewildering.
But it seems best to begin with modern illustration in France, where the
greatest activity has, until lately, existed. In the decade from 1875 to
1885, nowhere in the world were such big men working, or having their
work so well reproduced. Fortuny and Rico, settled in Paris, were
exhibiting their marvellous drawings. If Meissonier had ceased to
illustrate, Doré, Detaille, De Neuville, and Jacquemart were at the
height of their powers. The first great book illustrated by process
appeared in the midst of this period: Vierge's "Pablo de Ségovie,"
published in 1882; while the last years saw the appearance of the
Guillaume series which, it was believed, would prove to be the final
triumph of process. At the same time Baude, Leveille, Lepère, and
Florian were busy producing their masterpieces of wood-engraving.
Publishing houses were issuing the most artistic journals, probably, the
world has ever seen: "La Vie Moderne," "L'Art," "La Gazette des
Beaux-arts," "Paris Illustré," "La Revue Illustrée," "Le Monde
Illustré," "L'Illustration," and "Le Courrier Français."
[Illustration: BY GAVARNI. FROM "PARISIANS BY THEMSELVES."
Reduced from the wood-engraving.]
But from 1885 onward, there has been a change, and this change is not
difficult to account for. There are too many illustrators and too few
publishers--I mean publishers worthy of the name--and, most important,
too few real artists.
[Illustration: BY MEISSONIER. FROM THE "CONTES REMOIS."
Engraved on wood by Lavoignal.]
When, in 1879, the new process of "Gillotage," as all process is
described in France, was reasonably perfected--Jacquemart's "Histoire de
Mobilier," being one of the first important books to be reproduced
mechanically--every artist wished to try it. The consequence was that
the catalogues of the Salon, the weekly papers and monthly magazines,
were made bright and gay and charming with autographic artistic work;
while wood-engravers, feeling that their art was in danger, were put
upon their mettle and engraved a multitude of amazing blocks. Now that
illustration has arrived, and by its aid many of the biggest men in
France have arrived too, there has come a period of commonplaceness and
content. The Frenchman, who is even more insular in his views of art
than the Englishman,--unless his art is brought to him, when he proves
himself catholic enough,--knows that bad work is being turned out in his
own country, but believes that the same thing must be happening the
world over, though he has heard vaguely of the American magazine, the
German paper, and the English book. But since 1885, it may be said that
every French periodical has fallen away in quality, if it has not ceased
to appear altogether. The fine and expensive volumes, which in 1835 were
published in France, have been succeeded by the three-franc-fifty
Guillaume form, which, since the immortal "Tartarin," has degenerated
steadily both in number and excellence of illustrations. Looking back on
the original series, it does not seem so very fine, but eight years ago
it was an enormous advance on anything that had been done. Even then,
however, there was a rumour that this excellence was obtained at the
expense of the artist, and that most of the clever work of Myrbach and
of Rossi was more in the nature of an advertisement than anything else.
It is perfectly well known that even Vierge had to await the generosity
of an English publisher to recompense him for "Pablo de Ségovie." It
will also be found that certain of the large French publishing houses
and leading magazines have become limited companies, or "Sociétés
Anonymes;" while men, who may be clever enough in business affairs, have
been set to direct artistic matters of which they are entirely ignorant.
If the standard of illustration is daily falling in France, this fall is
owing mainly to the incompetence of editors and the rapacity of
publishers. To-day, if one wishes to see the best work of French
draughtsmen and engravers, one looks abroad for it, to America first and
then to England and Germany, where French artists are forced to publish
their drawings in order to obtain adequate pay or decent printing. It is
pitiful, but the example is very contagious.
[Illustration: JEAN GIGOUX. FROM "GIL BLAS" (FRENCH).
Wood-engraving, unsigned.]
Another cause too has operated against the production of fine books and
fine magazines. This is the "Supplément littéraire et artistique" given
away each week with papers like "Gil Blas," "L'Echo de Paris," "La
Lanterne," "Le Petit Journal," and occasionally "Le Figaro." It is
especially in "Gil Blas" that the best French work is now to be found,
usually printed in colour. But most of the others--there are notable
exceptions--either publish the veriest drivel and dirt, both from the
literary and artistic standpoint, or else the drawings of mere boys and
girls just out of the art schools, who give their designs to the
publishers for little more than the sake of having their names in the
papers. Under these circumstances, which actually exist, it is becoming
well-nigh impossible for a draughtsman to live in France. Printing, too,
has degenerated, until French printing now ranks with the worst.
[Illustration: BY JACQUEMART. PEN DRAWING. FROM THE "HISTORY OF
FURNITURE."]
On the other hand, a few firms, like Goupils, are producing excellent
colour work in the most expensive fashion, and good cheap prints as
well. The printing of Guillaume for Dentu's "Le Bambou"--most of the
illustrations are on wood--is to be commended, as it shows off the work
of artists and engravers to perfection. While one notes clever
paper-cover designs on many new books.
[Illustration: BY JACQUEMART. PEN DRAWING. FROM THE "HISTORY OF
FURNITURE."]
That bad or mediocre work is supreme in France at the present time is
proven by the fact that two of the most artistic journals have ceased to
appear; Goupil's "Les Lettres et les Arts," and Octave Uzanne's "L'Art
et L'Idée." Neither of these magazines was very expensive to
produce,--that is in comparison with many others. But it is a
self-evident fact, to anyone who has studied illustration, that the art
passes every few years through periods of great depression; in France,
art of all sorts is at the present moment in the most disorganized and
unsettled state, and illustration is in as bad a way as any other
branch. Nor is it for lack of illustrators, but because some of the
publishers and editors of the country--and France is not solitary and
alone in this matter--are a set of money-grubbing, ignorant fools, who
have been able temporarily to impress their contemptible view of art, or
rather their miserable failure to understand it from any other
standpoint than that of their money-bags, upon a sufficient number of
gullible people to make a fairly good living for themselves out of the
public ignorance. And as for the rest of the world, why what of it? It
is true Steinlein rivals Gavarni, and Marold, engraved by Florian,
equals in certain ways Meissonier, engraved by Orrinsmith;--but in the
majority of cases politics sit on art, and the photograph glares from
the pages of the _édition de luxe_.
[Illustration: BY MEISSONIER. FROM THE WOOD-ENGRAVING IN THE "CONTES
REMOIS" BY LAVOIGNAL.]
To-day an attempt is also being made to revive wood-engraving in France,
and almost all over the world, except in England--where nothing would be
known of any revival, or improvement, until long years after the whole
matter had been settled and pigeon-holed everywhere else--and in
America, where every endeavour now is made to perfect process. But the
reason for this revival in France, Germany, and the other countries of
the Continent is not the advancement of the art of wood-engraving, or
the benefit of the wood-engraver; it comes from the willingness of good
wood-engravers to work very cheaply, simply to secure the chance of
working at all, and also from the increase of the electrotype business.
Although an enormous trade has been developed in the production of
electrotypes from large wood-engravings for publication in different
papers, I am informed that editors who wish to make use, at so much an
inch, of the brains of other people, will not publish electros from
process blocks, for some reason known to none but themselves, only
buying _clichés_ from wood blocks. However, it is quite possible that
this revival of wood-engraving may encourage original work, and a new
period of fine original engraving may be its result, little as those who
are bringing this result about are interested in it.
A few words as to the men, and the books they have illustrated. The
artist who was most in evidence twenty years ago was Gustave Doré. The
unceasing stream of books which continued for years to delight the
provinces and to amaze his biographers was then at its flood. That Doré
was a man of the most marvellous imagination, no one will doubt; that
his imagination ran completely away with him is equally true. He has had
no influence upon anything but the very cheapest form of wood-engraving.
Though it is easy to understand his popularity, it is difficult,
considering how much really good work he did, to explain why he has
been completely ignored as an artist. There is no question that some of
his compositions were magnificent, even if every figure and type in them
was mannered and hackneyed to a horrible degree. The only way in which
we can account for his utter failure as an artist, is the fact that he
was ruined by the praise of his friends. Although Doré started as a
lithographer, carrying on the traditions of his immediate predecessors
and contemporaries, Daumier and Gavarni, Raffet and Charlet, he soon
took to drawing on the block, and for years the world was inundated with
his work. In popularity no one ever approached him, but his drawing on
the block is no more to be compared to Meissonier's, than his
lithographs to Gavarni's, who contributed some of the most exquisite
designs to "L'Artiste" in its early days.
[Illustration: BY GUSTAVE DORÉ. WOOD-ENGRAVING FROM "SPAIN" (CASSELL AND
CO., LIMITED).]
[Illustration: BY A. DE NEUVILLE. FROM "COUPS DE FUSIL" (CHARPENTIER).
Wood-engraving by Farlet.]
[Illustration: BY GUSTAVE DORÉ. Process block, from a Lithograph.]
[Illustration: PEN DRAWING BY D. VIERGE. FROM "PABLO DE SÉGOVIE" (FISHER
UNWIN).]
In Alphonse de Neuville's "Coups de Fusil," one will find most
delightful renderings of the late war, while many of his illustrations
to Guizot's "History of France," or "En Campagne" are superb. His rival
and successor, Detaille, has carried on the military tradition very well
in "L'Armée Française," which contains the best illustrations of any
sort that he ever did. P. G. Jeanniot also has done excellent work in
the same field, but his studies of Parisian types are probably still
more successful. The best work of all is probably contained in Dentu's
edition of "Tartarin de Tarascon." L. Lhermitte, too, has made some
striking drawings in charcoal, both for reproduction by photography and
for engraving on wood, especially in "La Vie Rustique," where the
designs were extraordinarily well engraved. Jean Paul Laurens heads a
long list of painters who have made many pictures in black and white for
the illustration of books, but most of them are duller as illustrators
than painters. Maurice Leloir and V. A. Poirson have illustrated the
"Sentimental Journey," the "Vicar of Wakefield," and some other English
books, though their point of view is always that of the Frenchman who
knows little about England; their drawings were reproduced mainly by
photogravure, with small blocks printed in colour, or black and white
process, interspersed. About 1880 an illustrated theatrical journal was
started, "Les Premières Illustrées," and in this F. Lunel, Fernand Fau,
L. Galice, G. Rochegrosse, and A. F. Gourget did remarkable work. Some
of the painters, too, have allowed their sketch-books to be used, and
from them books of travel have been manufactured, but these are hardly
to be considered seriously as illustrations, as they were not specially
made for the works which contain them.
Daniel Vierge's "Pablo de Ségovie," though the work of a Spaniard, has
for twelve years held its own as the best example of pen drawing for
process reproduction published in France. Following, a long way behind,
come men like Henri Pille and Edouard Toudouze. The development of the
Guillaume half-tone process produced the curious series of little books
known under that title; and also the larger series which contained
"Madame Chrysanthème" and "François le Champi," books which made
tone-process in France, and also the reputation of Myrbach and Rossi.
[Illustration: BY LOUIS MORIN. PEN DRAWING. FROM "L'ART ET L'IDÉE."]
[Illustration: BY CARLOS SCHWABE. PEN DRAWING. FROM ZOLA'S "LE RÊVE."]
[Illustration: BY EUGENE GRASSET. PEN DRAWING FROM "LES QUATRE FILS
D'AYMON" (PARIS).]
[Illustration: BY EUGENE GRASSET. PEN DRAWING FROM "LES QUATRE FILS
D'AYMON" (PARIS).]
Several fine and limited editions have been published lately,
illustrated by Albert Lynch, Mme. Lemaire, and Paul Avril, such as the
"Dame aux Camélias;" while Octave Uzanne's series on fans and fashions
were a great success. So, too, are many of the books issued by Conquet.
Robida's designs for Rabelais virtually superseded those of Doré, and he
followed up the success of this book with a number of others which have
gradually degenerated in quality. Louis Morin, who is author as well as
artist; E. Grasset, who, not content with this, is an architect too, and
whose "Quatre Fils d'Aymon" should be seen as a beautiful piece of
colour-printing; and Georges Auriol have done extremely good work in
their different ways. Félicien Rops is a man who stands apart from all
other illustrators; he possesses a style and individuality so marked
that, at times, it is not easy to obtain any of his books, so carefully
are they watched by that Cerberus of the press: the social puritan, who
never fails to see anything to which he can possibly find objection.
From the mystic Rops, have sprung, one might almost say, even more
mystic Rosicrucians, headed by Carlos Schwabe, who has produced, in "Le
Rêve" of Zola, one of the most beautiful and refined books, despite its
disgraceful printing, ever issued from the French press.
[Illustration: BY LOUIS MORIN. PEN DRAWING. FROM "L'ART ET L'IDÉE."]
[Illustration: PEN DRAWING BY JACQUEMART.]
[Illustration: BY RAFFAËLLI. PEN DRAWING. FROM "PARIS ILLUSTRÉ."]
[Illustration: BY BOUTET DE MONVEL. PEN DRAWING FROM "JEANNE D'ARC"
(PARIS, PLON).]
[Illustration: BY H. IBELS. FROM "L'ART DU RIRE ET CARICATURE."]
But less mystical, and, possibly, even more beautifully drawn, are some
of Luc Ollivier Merson's designs, notably those for Victor Hugo's works:
a charming series of drawings, etched, I think, by Lalauze--to the
national edition of Hugo almost every French painter has
contributed--and the more mystic but less accomplished Séon is another
of the same group; while the latest and most advanced are the Vebers.
The list of really clever men is long. Marchetti and Tofani, Italians,
whose work, continually seen in the supplements to "L'Illustration,"
is engraved with the greatest charm and distinction; Raffaëlli, who,
though he draws but little now, has decorated during the last fifteen
years some of the most notable French books. Giacomelli, Riou, Bayard,
Haennen, Adrian Marie,[18] Metivet, who are willing, at a moment's
notice, to make you a drawing, often distinguished, of any subject, no
matter whether they have seen it or not, though Giacomelli is best known
for his renderings of birds and flowers, often very charming; Habert Dys
and Felix Régamey, who have adapted the methods of Japan to their own
needs; Paul Renouard whose work is, as it should be, appreciated in
England, and who has the distinction, when any important event is coming
off in this country, to be commissioned by the "Graphic" to cross the
Channel and "do" it; Boutet de Monvel, whose books for children have
gained him a world-wide reputation; the long list of delineators of
character, costume, and caricature who weekly fill the lighter papers:
Ibels, the decadent of decadents, Caran d'Ache, Willette, Steinlein,
Mars, Legrand, Forain, Job, Guillaume, and Courboin, whose work can be
seen more or less badly reproduced every week in the comic papers to
which they contribute. Caran d'Ache has made himself, one might almost
predict, a lasting reputation with his "Courses dans l'Antiquité," his
"Carnet de Chèques," and his various other "Albums." A. Willette, when
not playing at politics, is seriously working at his adventures of
Pierrot. Steinlein, in his illustrations to Bruant's "Dans la Rue,"
probably did as much as the author to make known the life of
Batignolles. Mars rules the fashions of the provinces, while if one were
to take Forain's Albums as absolutely typical of French morals, France
certainly would seem the most distressful country on the face of the
earth. To Grasset and Chéret, Lautrec and Auriol have fallen the task of
looking after the so-called decorative part of French work. But the fact
that not only these men will do you a poster, a cover design, a head, or
a tail-piece, but that almost all others will too, is a positive proof
that decoration cannot be separated from illustration, and also that all
true artists are decorators.
[18] Adrian Marie and Emile Bayard died lately.
Among wood-engravers, Baude and Florian hold the foremost place as
reproductive artists, while Lepère stands quite apart, a brilliant
many-sided man, at once draughtsman, engraver, etcher, and painter, a
true craftsman in the best sense. Another man, F. Valloton, is making an
endeavour to revive original wood-cutting, and though but few of his
cuts are anything like so good as "Entêrrement en Province," he is the
leader of a movement which may result in the resurrection, or indeed the
creation of an original art of wood-cutting. But this desire of artists
to engrave and print their own work is growing in France, as may be seen
in such a collection as "Estampe Originale." Pannemacker and his
followers have been the most popular, and their influence has been felt,
sometimes with distinction, in all cheap French wood-engraving.
[Illustration: BY H. IBELS. FROM "L'ART DU RIRE ET CARICATURE."]
[Illustration: BY STEINLEN. PROCESS BLOCK FROM COLOURED PRINT IN "GIL
BLAS."]
[Illustration: BY STEINLEN. REPRODUCED FROM A COLOURED PRINT IN "GIL
BLAS."]
[Illustration: BY A. WILLETTE. PEN DRAWING. FROM "LES PIERROTS"
(VANIER).]
[Illustration: BY CARAN D'ACHE. FROM "ALBUM" (PARIS, PLON).]
[Illustration: BY ROBIDA. PEN DRAWING. FROM "JOURNAL D'UN TRÈS VIEUX
GARÇON."]
[Illustration: BY A. WILLETTE. FROM "LES PIERROTS" (VANIER).]
[Illustration: BY FORAIN. FROM "LA COMÉDIE PARISIENNE" (CHARPENTIER).]
[Illustration: BY P. RENOUARD. CHALK DRAWING. FROM "THE GRAPHIC."]
After enumerating this long list, it seems as if I had contradicted my
own rather pessimistic view of illustration in France. I do not think
so. It is true that the artists, though few in number, are in the
country, but to-day the opportunities for them to express their art are
lacking: as a proof, the only book devoted solely to French illustration
which has ever appeared has just been published in America.
[Illustration: BY LALANNE. FROM A PENCIL DRAWING. (FRENCH.)]