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| BIOGRAPHY OF JEAN J. GRANDVILLE |
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Jean Isidore Gerard, son of a French miniature painter, took his theatrical grandparents name of Grandville when he began his dramatic entrance into the Parisienne art scene. His early work for La Caricature & Le Charivari was imaginative and satirical. In particular he focused his ridicule on the regime of King Louis-Philippe. With the restoration of censorship of caricature in 1835, Grandville turned to book illustration. His original art captured the growing spirit of French romanticism, yer among the many works he produced, he is best known for for two almost surrealistic anthropomorphic fantasies. Les Metamorphoses du Jour positions animals dressed as humans performing the tasks of everyday life. Les Fleurs Animees, his last work and his personal favorite, is even more allegorical. In the mythical Court of Flora, which some saw as a satire on the French Revolution, flowers become elegant ladies dressed in leaves, petals and vines, attended by insects and set in evocative backgrounds.
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