The New York herald., 1921-11-20
FROM EUROPE

of Ratapon. type of the Bonapartist
reveals him as a great sculptor.
After Daumier there is Gavarni, who
interpreted the role of woman in So
ciety. His few lines of character OBJ
servation under each picture add TO
the design a meaning it would not
convey alone.
After 1870 the naturalistic influence
of Goncourt, Flaubert. Maupassant
and Zola modified the development OF
French humor. At the same time
renewed interest in art lent nobility
even to slight themes, in the work OF
Seurat. Rops, Forain, Toulouse-Lau-
tree.
One of the amplest personalities that
brought imagination and fantasy to
! the expression of veritable humor
was Caran d'Ache. With little i'm
pulse toward Forain's biting satire he
! triumphed in light raillery. in recrea-
tions of the First Empire, in menag-
cries of unheard of comic animals.
His silhouettes multiplied the popu-
larity of the chat Noir, that paragon
of artistic cabarets.' which boasted
among it's decorations the Steinlen
cat and sketches by Forain, Willette,
Cheret. Thanks to these humorists,
Montmartre acquired a worldwide ce-
lebrity.'
With the improvement of mechan
ical processes of illustration the num-
ber of those who could live by draw
ing for publishers increased. Posters
were used freely Publicity by means
of humor was born, art and business
became allies"
Then we began to borrow from the
art of other nations. The drawings of
your Edwin A. Abbey and G. d. Glib
son were freely reproduced.
Political satire, asleep since 1871,
| awoke with the Dreyfus case. Toward
| 1907 the humorous draughtsmen, led
| by Leandre, organized their first salon.
| BY 1914, thanks to it's salon, humor
is flourishing. The Gazette du Bon
Ton opens a new field to the decora-
tive artists Humor enters the serv-
ice of the dress designers. 1t is the
epoch of the Ballets Russes which
bring strange fabrics and bright col
ors into vogue.
Then comes the war and the sa-
tirists respond with a burst of scorn
followed by the effort to amuse and
distract war-troubled world. A
new journal, La Bdionnette, appears.
The short skirts high boots and vi
sored caps of the women furnish new
themes. Poulbot adapts to the war
his admirable series OF "goSSeS." The
new types in uniform appear-the cas-
qued and muddy poilu. the elegant
aviator, the embusque in horn trimmed
spectacles, the nurse.
The armies soon become aware of
humorsts in their ranks. Journals
are founded. among them such as
! Tord- Boydu La Sdison a GrenddeS,
Crapouilet-this last the most cele-
brated. In the prisoners camps the
humorsts were very Providence to
their comrades
I'VE count the moral and social in
f1uence of humor a great and salutary
force" concludes Francis CARGO. "for
it forms the permanent defence
against the ridiculous and the odous."
And he adds that there is upon the
work of the humorist, whatever his
age, by grace of his inspiration the
accent of youth"
This author is clear and precise a.
a historian. His understanding of art
is expressed in a style whose vigor
does not preclude finesse. The vol
ume contains twenty reproductions
from Daumier, Guys, Cappiello and
other masters. 1t is equally interest
ing to the lover of art and to the
student of social history.
PANAME