AHT 4200 - French Prints and Caricature

The nineteenth-century media explosion resulted from a complex web of circumstances, including the invention of lithography, the development of a new urban culture, and the violently shifting political climates during the “Age of Revolution”. The Romantic movement in art and literature valued individual expression and human rights, giving rise to political caricature and the illustrated satirical press. The French public love seeing themselves, and avidly consumed mass-produced lithographs depicting their entertainments, flirtations, and daily occupations. The course will explore the style and subject matter of popular prints, caricatures, and illustrations by Daumier, Travies, Granville, Monnier, Pigal, Philipon, Gavarni, Boilly, and Deveria, among others. We will also examine the work of avant-garde artists who fell under the spell of printmaking processes. Gericault and Delacroix practiced lithography, producing works in tones ranging from silvery gray to velvety black. Theodore Rousseau, Corot, Manet, Degas, Many Cassatt, Fantib-Latour and Marie Braquemond experimented with various graphic media, including etching and aquatint, creating prints that were appreciated by collectors as complete (and affordable) artistic statements. (4 Credits) Formerly AHT 420