Gavarni

Gavarni — marelibri

GAVARNI, Paul [pseudonym of Guillaume Sulpice Chevallier]Biblio.com

Le Carnaval à Paris and Les Bals Masqués

réf. 06687Paris: Chez Bauger 1834. Midnight in Paris - Gavarni and the Secret Theater of Carnival A Superb Hand-Colored Copy of Le Carnaval à Paris in the Original Publisher's Binding Together with the Very Rare and Complete Suite of Les Bals Masqués GAVARNI Paul pseudonym of Guillaume Sulpice Chevallier. Le Carnaval à Paris. February 1841 - February 1842. and Les Bals Masqués. Paris: Chez Bauger Rue du Croissant 16; variously printed by Aubert & Cie. and Kaeppelin February 1834. Folio 13 1/8 x 9 7/8 inches; 333 x 251 mm. A superb carnival album containing twenty-eight magnificent hand-colored lithographs heightened throughout with gum arabic including the complete suite of seven plates from Les Bals Masqués together with an additional related carnival plate "Bal Masqué No. 8" all bound after the first twenty hand-colored lithographs of Le Carnaval à Paris. Eight-page Aubert et Cie. catalog bound in at end. Publisher's quarter maroon calf over red patterned boards front cover decoratively lettered in gilt: "Le Carnaval à Paris" smooth spine. A remarkably fresh and well-preserved copy the plates with exceptionally bright contemporary hand-coloring and luminous gum-arabic heightening the binding with only minor wear at extremities. An unusually handsome survival. The Les Bals Masqués sequence forms a brilliant miniature drama of Parisian carnival life. 1. C'est toi mauvais sujet! "It's you you wicked creature!" A masked reveler in dazzling Oriental costume leans intimately toward a richly dressed young woman whose expression balances amusement and suspicion amid the crowded ballroom. 2. T'en souviens tu friponne. "Do you remember you little minx" This plate captures a moment of flirtatious accusation between a masked cavalier dressed in vivid blue and his companion the theatrical gesture and conspiratorial proximity perfectly conveying the coded language of carnival seduction. 3. Vois mon mari derrière! "Look - my husband is behind us!" Gavarni brilliantly stages bourgeois panic and comic intrigue as a masked woman urgently warns her companion while curious revelers peer from the theater box above. 4. Les apprêts du bal. "Preparations for the Ball" shifts backstage to the private preparations before the festivities two young women dressing in Pierrot-inspired white costumes beneath heavy green drapery the quiet intimacy contrasting sharply with the social theater of the ballroom itself. 5. Un cabinet chez Pétron. "A Private Room at Pétron's" - the mood darkens delightfully when an exhausted young woman reclines dreamily in a private dining cabinet while her companion smokes and pours wine after the night's excesses. 6. Un souper de carnaval. "A Carnival Supper" - a masked beauty bends toward her seated admirer in a dim attic interior littered with dishes and bottles one of Gavarni's most psychologically suggestive images of post-ball intimacy. 7. Le retour du bal masqué. "The Return from the Masked Ball" - this plate is from the series Fantaisies the emotional climax of the suite is undoubtedly portrayed where a pale and utterly exhausted reveler collapses into a chair while attendants remove her costume after the night's pleasures and deceptions have run their course. The theatricality fatigue and melancholy glamour of Carnival Paris are distilled here with extraordinary elegance and humanity. 8. The additional hand colored lithograph "Bal Masqué No. 8" C'est vieux et laid mon cher; tu es volè comme dans un bois. "It's old and ugly my dear! You've been robbed as if in a forest" - this plate is from the series Fantaisies and serves almost as an epilogue to the series: a weary bourgeois gentleman trapped between two masked women whose expressions suggest equal measures of intrigue manipulation and amusement. Framed within an elaborate ornamental border it possesses the sharp observational wit characteristic of Gavarni at his finest. A visually dazzling and socially revealing document of Parisian carnival life during the July Monarchy Le Carnaval à Paris ranks among the most evocative lithographic productions of the great age of French caricature. Combining theatricality fashion illustration social satire and romantic intrigue the plates capture the masked balls flirtations backstage preparations clandestine suppers exhausted dawn returns and coded erotic freedoms of carnival Paris with extraordinary wit and elegance. Paul Gavarni was among the supreme interpreters of nineteenth-century Parisian society standing beside Honoré Daumier and Grandville as one of the defining graphic artists of the period. Yet where Daumier's art often bites with political ferocity Gavarni's genius lay in psychological nuance gesture costume flirtation and the delicate ambiguities of urban social performance. His carnival subjects remain among the most sophisticated visual chronicles of Parisian pleasure culture produced during the nineteenth century. The present copy is especially desirable for its rich contemporary hand-coloring lavish gum-arabic enhancement and survival in the original binding. The gum arabic was applied to heighten reflective surfaces and luxurious fabrics producing a shimmering effect intended to imitate satin silk velvet candlelight and theatrical costume textures. Such deluxe issues were considerably more expensive than ordinary tinted or uncolored impressions and survive far less frequently today. A splendid and highly decorative survival from the golden age of Parisian lithography - simultaneously theatrical satirical elegant and deeply evocative of the secret life of Carnival Paris. Le Carnaval à Paris. February 1841 - February 1842. Plates 1-20. 1. Nèfie-loi Coquardeau! si tu ne finis pas de t'amuser comme ca on va te fich'au violon. "Watch it Coquardeau! If you don't stop carrying on like this they'll throw you in jail." 2. Rue Coquenard au cinquième; une porte jaune. Ton portier fait des chaufferettes et tu joues de la flûte ainsi! "Rue Coquenard fifth floor; a yellow door. Your porter makes foot-warmers and you play the flute - like this!" 3. -Il n'est pas ici! Madame. -Il y viendra! Madame. "He isn't here Madam. - He'll come Madam." 4. Qu'est-ce Les gens de Qualité se commettent-ils maintenant avec ceux de votre sorte Pandour! "What's this People of quality mix nowadays with people of your sort Scoundrel!" 5. -Jai un mal à la tète de chien! -C'est le champagne. -Ah! Dieu je ne bois jamais de vin; c'est le rhum. "I've got a splitting headache! It's the champagne. Oh God I never drink wine; it's the rum." 6. -Qui diable ca peut-il être -Voyons mon Oncle: ma cosine Claire. . . . a la migraine; Madame; Madame d'Asté est en deuil; ma sœur a horreur des bals masqués d'abord; Madame Debry. . . . Philippe défend à sa femme d'y venir; ma tante Clèmence. . . . - Ta tante est couchée. . . . Mais qui diable ca peut-il être "Who the devil can it be Let's see Uncle: my cousin Claire. has a migraine Madam; Madame d'Asté is in mourning; my sister detests masked balls anyway; Madame Debry. Philippe forbids his wife to come; my Aunt Clémence. Your aunt is in bed. But who the devil can it be" 7. -Parbleu! si vous deviez les èpouser toutes mauvais sujets! les oncles n'y suffiraient pas. -Ni les neveux non plus mon oncle. "Good heavens! If you had to marry all of them you rogues there wouldn't be enough uncles to go around! Nor nephews either Uncle." 8. -Tu vois bien la blonde d'henri là! qui parle à ce grand avec une barbe. . . . -Cà! . . . . c'est la femme de Clément. . . . -Éh! bien oui c'est cà. . . . tu vois elle va souper avec le petit Russe. . . . eh! bien mon Nini Chèvrier l'attend au café anglais. . . . un si brave garçon! . . . . -Cà c'est pas gentil. "You see Henri's blonde over there talking to that tall fellow with the beard. That one . that's Clément's wife. Well yes that's her. you see she's going to supper with the little Russian. and meanwhile my dear Nini Chèvrier is waiting for her at the Café Anglais. such a nice fellow too! That's really not nice." 9. "On désire cèder Monsieur avec tous les avantages y attachès Sàdresser à Monsieur." "Wanted to transfer Sir together with all attached advantages. Apply to Monsieur." 10. -Prête-moi vingt frances Guillemain j'ai le Domino rose à dèjeûner. -Je l'ai eu à souper mon pauvre bonhomme et je n'ai plus le sou. "Lend me twenty francs Guillemain; I've got the Pink Domino coming for breakfast.I had her for supper my poor fellow and I haven't a sou left." 11. -Les rats couchés nous sommes venus. -Et. . . . vos petits voisins de l'entresol. . . . vous ne les avez pas débauchés -Eux des poules comme çà! çà se couche à minuit en carnival et puis çà vient vous dire que le carnival est triste. -Epiciers! "Once the old rats were in bed we came out. And your little neighbors on the mezzanine. you didn't lead them astray Them Chickens like that! They go to bed at midnight during Carnival then come and tell you Carnival is dull. Grocers!" 12. Oh! hè! Dufrène oh! hè les pistons oh! èh! affûetz vos becs: faut de l'harmonie aux flambards de la chouette harmonie! "Hey! Dufrène! Hey there brass players! Sharpen your beaks - the torchbearers need music splendid owl-like music!" 13. Voilà la petite avec le brun qui l'amène toujours: le blond qui la remmène toujours va venir. "There's the little brunette with the dark-haired fellow who always brings her; the blond who always takes her home will be here soon." 14. -C'est donc comme çà que ça mène la joie les houzards de ce règiment là -Turlututu mon ange nous sortons d'en prendre et toi "So this is how the hussars of that regiment enjoy themselves Turlututu my angel we've just come from having a drink - and you" 15. -C'est un diplomate. . . -C'est un epicier. . . -Non! c'est un mari d'une femme agréable. -Non! Cabocher mon ami vous avez donc bu. . . que vous ne voyez pas que Mosieu est un jeune homme farceur comme tout déguise en un qui sembête à most. . . . le roué masque! "He's a diplomat. He's a grocer. No! He's the husband of an attractive woman. No Cabocher my friend you must be drunk. can't you see that the gentleman is just a practical joker disguised as one of those dreadfully boring fellows. the sly masked rogue!" 16. -Reflèchissez mon cher ange. . . .: une couchette de noyer toute neuve! et la commode. . . . et quatre belles petites chaises. . . . avec les rideaux jannes et la flèche. . . . cest un aveniur çá! -Je ne dis pas! Mosieu Coquardeau; mais jaime mieux Henri sans rien. "Think about it my dear angel. a brand-new walnut bed! And the chest of drawers. and four lovely little chairs. with yellow curtains and the canopy. that's a future for you! I'm not saying otherwise Monsieur Coquardeau; but I prefer Henri with nothing." 17. Veux-tu te Sauver Sauvage! "Get lost savage!" 18. Tenez Clara je suis contrairé comme tout! c'est ma bête de femme qui est partie avec le numéro de mon paletot et ma clef! à prèsent faut que j'attende le jour et que jáille aux Batignolles pour avior ma clef. . . . je suis contraire comme tout. "Look Clara I'm furious! My idiot wife went off with the number tag for my overcoat and my key! Now I have to wait until daylight and go all the way to Batignolles to get my key. I'm absolutely beside myself." 19. A sept heures ma fille se lève; le temps de faire ses quinze tours il est bien huit heures; faut travailler son piano; on déjeune à neuf; à dix c;est son anglais; ma fille chante sur les midi; et puis sa mère veut qu'elle couse qu'elle fasse un peu de cuisine un peu de tout: bon! la maitresse de paysage arrive à trois hèures; et puis nous avons des serins faut nettoyer çà les fleurs des pots n'importe quoi; les uns et les autres viennent: arrivent cing heures. Et le soir c'est Monsieu Marritou qui lui fait repasser son orthographe. . . . et après çà vous croyez qu'une jeunesse a beaucoup le temps de s'amuser vous! "At seven my daughter gets up; by the time she's done her fifteen turns it's already eight; then she must practice the piano; breakfast is at nine; at ten she has English lessons; around noon she sings; and then her mother wants her to sew do a little cooking a bit of everything; good! the landscape drawing teacher arrives at three; then we have canaries that need cleaning flowers in pots goodness knows what; visitors begin arriving around five. And in the evening Monsieur Marritou makes her review her spelling. and after all that you think young people have much time for amusement!" 20. . . . . Elle ètait donc censée garder sa tante Grayet qui tenait le lit. . .depuis le Rois pour ses dameuses coliques quand un soir je monte au Grand-Vainqueur pour voir un peu: qu'est-ce'que je vois . . . . mon èspouse en Garde-Française! ! ! !. . . . . ".So she was supposedly staying home to care for her Aunt Grayet who had been bedridden since Twelfth Night with dreadful colic when one evening I went up to the Grand-Vainqueur just to have a look: what do I see . my wife dressed as a French Guardsman!!!". Armelhault & Bocher 397-409 Le Carnaval a Paris; 2058 2057 2065 2060 2061 also see pp. 87/88 Les Bals Masques; & 1726 Fantaisies. Paris: Chez Bauger, 1834 unknown