Exhibitions: Lithographs by Gavarni [Print Club of Philadelphia]

May 15, 1932: An interesting exhibition of the work of Gavarni is now on exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum and will remain on view there in the Print Gallery through June 15th.

The artist presented a review of the manners and customs of his day and drew his subjects from every class. Aside from the subtle humor and the humaneness of his characterizations, his technical virtuosity in the medium of lithography is only equaled by one other artist of the period, Daumier. The collection was arranged by the Print Club of Philadelphia.

Born Guillaume Sulpice Chevallier in Paris in 1804 the artist spent almost his entire career in that city. In 1829 a picture he had submitted for the Salon entitled "Gavarnie" was mixed somehow in a clerical error in the catalogue and the title was given as the name of the artist. He was charmed with the possibilities of the name and dropping the final letter thereafter used it as the signature of his work.

His appearance in the art world coincides with the new Romantic Movement of 1830, a period marked by the names of Victor Hugo, Balzac, Alfred de Musset, and the brothers Goncourt among the authors, and a myriad of painters and lithographers known as the “Men of 1830”. Costume had reached a peak of imagination that rivaled that of the "merveilleuses" of the preceeding century.

About 8000 works from his hand have thus far been catalogued, but in spite of this surprising output the artist found time to be entirely au courant with his times. His talents were turned to a depiction of the somewhat precious social life of the time and with his colorful imagination he soon was established as an arbiter of the dress of the day. In 1830 he was attached to "La Mode" and attracted universal attention with his creations. He is credited with the invention of the Pierrots and Derardeurs for the masquerades that were so popular a part of the carnival spirit of the times.

Not all of his beautiful draughtsmanship was confined to picturing the elegancies of high society, and in this exhibition are shown many of the sketches he did of the humble people of the London slums and docks executed during his four year stay there. His popularity in the English capital was great and continued so until he carelessly “forgot” an appointment to paint a portrait of the Queen.

The present exhibition shows examples of various periods of his work and besides the masterly lithographs is shown also one of his original watercolor drawings. These watercolors are very rare and the one shown is one of the best and most representative of his work in this medium. There are also several of the delightful costume plates in color lithography.

Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1931 - 1936. 01-06_1932, 040. View Original