Grandville, J J
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Artist.
Pseudonym of French caricaturist and illustrator Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard (1803-1847), active from the mid-1820s to 1835, primarily as a caricaturist (until the imposition of prior censorship on political cartoons in 1835). He is of overall interest as a creator of images of Fantastika beginning with Les Métamorphoses du jour ["Metamorphoses of the Day"] (graph 1829) [for revised edition see Checklist], featuring caricatures of known figures conveyed through images with human bodies and beast faces, creating a lasting model for Satire and for the graphic representation of humanlike characters in cartoon narratives; Carl Barks's creation of the dogface figure for the Disney organization derives directly from Grandville's example [for Carl Barks and Beast Fable see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below]. Bryan Talbot's Grandville sequence of Steampunk-inflected Graphic Novels is named in homage to this original creation.
Of more direct sf interest may be Une Autre Monde: Transformations, Visions, Incarnations, Ascensions, Locomotions, Explorations, Pérégrinations, Excursions, Stations, Lubies, Métempsychoses, Apotheoses et Autres Choses ["Another World: Transformations, Visions, Incarnations, Ascensions, Locomotions, Explorations, Peregrinations, Excursions, Resorts, Fads, Metempsychoses, Apotheoses and Other Things"] (graph 1844) with text by Taxile Delord, in which Grandville's familiar figures are envisioned in surreally futuristic landscapes, the Satire here being directly primarily but not inevitably at nineteenth century visions of Utopia. [JC]
Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard
born Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France: 13 September 1803
died Paris: 17 March 1847
works (selected)
- Les Métamorphoses du jour ["Metamorphoses of the Day"] (Paris: Chez Bulla, 1829) [coll: graph: many plates separately produced 1829-1829: illus/J J Grandville: hb/nonpictorial]
- Les Metamorphoses du Jour par Grandville. Accompagnees d'un Texte par MM. Alberic Second, Louis Lurine, Clement Caraguel, Taxile Delord, H. de Beaulieu, Louis Huart, Charles Monselet, Julien Lemer. Precedees d'une notice sur Grandville par M. Charles Blanc (Paris: Gustave Havard, 1854) [coll: graph: cut vt of the above: with added narrative verses by various hands including Taxile Delord: illus/J J Grandville: hb/nonpictorial]
- Une Autre Monde: Transformations, Visions, Incarnations, Ascensions, Locomotions, Explorations, Pérégrinations, Excursions, Stations, Lubies, Métempsychoses, Apotheoses et Autres Choses ["Another World: Transformations, Visions, Incarnations, Ascensions, Locomotions, Explorations, Peregrinations, Excursions, Resorts, Fads, Metempsychoses, Apotheoses and Other Things"] (Paris: H Fournier, Libraire-Editeur, 1844) [graph: text by Taxile Delord: illus/hb/J J Grandville]
links
- Images from Un Autre Monde
- Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- The Encyclopedia of Fantasy: Carl Barks; Beast Fable.
- Picture Gallery
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