Édouard-Henri Avril

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Édouard-Henri Avril
File:Édouard-Henri Avril - Maler.jpg
Portrait of Avril (c. 1885)
Born(1849-05-21)21 May 1849
Algiers, French Algeria
Died28 July 1928(1928-07-28) (aged 79)
Le Raincy, Paris, French Third Republic
NationalityFrench
EducationÉcole des Beaux-Arts
Known forIllustrator of erotic literature
Notable workDe figuris Veneris, Fortunio
AwardsLegion of Honour

Édouard-Henri Avril (21 May 1849 – 28 July 1928) was a French painter and commercial artist. Under the pseudonym Paul Avril, he was an illustrator of erotic literature.[1] Avril was a soldier before starting his career in art; he was awarded with the Legion of Honour for his actions in the Franco-Prussian War.[2]

Life

Avril was born in Algiers. His father was a colonel of the gendarmerie. Avril himself fought and was wounded in the Franco-Prussian War before starting his studies in art. He was awarded with the Legion of Honour on 31 May 1871 for injuries sustained during the war, which resulted in retirement from his military career on 23 January 1872.[3] Biographical material of his life is scarce due to the perceived obscene nature of his work and because he worked under a pseudonym of "Paul Avril".[4] His pseudonym can lead to a confusion with his brother,[1][5] who was named Paul-Victor Avril and was also an artist and worked as an engraver.[5]

File:Édouard-Henri Avril (6).jpg
Les charmes de Fanny exposés (plate VIII) from Fanny Hill is one of the most famous works of Avril.
File:Octave Uzanne-L'Ombrelle-Le Gant-Le Manchon- 1883.jpg
Cover of L'Ombrelle - Le Gant - Le Manchon illustrated by Avril (1883)

From 1874 to 1878, he was at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.[4][3] He worked for the illustrated newsmagazine Le Monde illustré in 1882.[5][6] Having been commissioned to illustrate Théophile Gautier's novel Fortunio, he adopted the pseudonym "Paul Avril".[7] His reputation was soon established, and he received many commissions to illustrate both major authors and the so-called "galante literature" of the day, a form of erotica. However, his reputation as a commercial illustrator of novels was established before he began illustrating the more underground erotic literature. These books were typically sold in small editions on a subscription basis organised by collectors. Erotica of that time received very limited prints and sometimes were limited to only about 100 copies or were sold only within exclusive circles of collectors.[citation needed] Avril died at Le Raincy near Paris in 1928.[8]

Works

File:Henry Spencer Ashbee Ex Libris.jpg
Bookplate designed by Avril for erotica collector Henry Spencer Ashbee

Classicizing works illustrated by Avril include Oeuvres d’Horace (1887), Une nuit de Cléopâtre (1894), Daphnis et Chloé (1898), and Les sonnets luxurieux de l’Aretin (1904).[9] Avril might be best known for his sapphic illustrations.[10] Prolific erotica collector Henry Spencer Ashbee commissioned Avril to design a bookplate for him.[9] Avril worked with Octave Uzanne,[10][11] who after, leaving the Société des Amis des Livres which he found too conservative and too concerned with the reissue of old works, started two new bibliographic societies. The Société des Bibliophiles Contemporaines (1889–1894)[12] consisted of 160 people from literary circles, including Avril.[11]

List of works and editions illustrated

  • L'Éventail (1882)[10]
  • L'Ombrelle – Le Gant – Le Manchon (1883)
  • Fortunio (1883)[6]
  • Adventures of the Chevalier de Faublas (1884)[13]
  • Mon Oncle Barbassou (Scenes in a Harem) (1884)[6]
  • Fanny Hill (fr. 1887, eng. 1906)[6]
  • Oeuvres d’Horace (1887)[6]
  • The Mirror of the World (1888)[14]
  • Le Roi Candaule (1893)[6]
  • Une nuit de Cléopâtre (1894)[15]
  • The Life and Adventures of Father Silas (1896)[6]
  • Daphnis et Chloé (1898)[6]
  • Musk, Hashish and Blood (1899)[6]
  • Les Sonnets Luxurieux de l’Aretin (1904)[6]
  • Gamiani (1905)[6]
  • De Figuris Veneris: A Manual of Classical Erotica (1906)[6]
  • Salammbô (1906)[6]
  • Histoire de Saturnin (1908)
  • The Madam

Gallery

Les Sonnets Luxurieux
De figuris Veneris from Friedrich Karl Forberg (1770–1848)
Others

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Paul Eduard Henry Avril – Biography and Offers – Buy and Sell Retrieved 01 August 2012". Kettererkunst.com. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  2. ↑ "Dossier de Légion d'honneur". Base Léonore - National Archives. Ministère de la Culture. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named stilearte
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named culture_trip
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Transits of Venus and Mercury as muses".
  6. ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 "Paul Avril; Avril Paul".
  7. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Cutler2012
  8. ↑ "Paul Avril". Dictionary of Art & Artist. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Blanshard, Alastair J. L. (2010). Sex: Vice and Love from Antiquity to Modernity. doi:10.1002/9781444323566. ISBN 978-1-4443-2356-6.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Susan Hiner (6 June 2011). Accessories to Modernity: Fashion and the Feminine in Nineteenth-Century France. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 112–113, 242. ISBN 978-0-8122-0533-6.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Willa Z. Silverman (2008). The New Bibliopolis: French Book Collectors and the Culture of Print, 1880–1914. University of Toronto Press. pp. 83–84. ISBN 978-0-8020-9211-3.
  12. ↑ Curinier, CE (1914). "Uzanne (Louis Octave)". Dictionnaire national des contemporains (in français). Vol. IV. Paris: Office Général d'Edition. pp. 66–67. OCLC 697614752.
  13. ↑ Michael Reynolds (17 June 2016). Creating Der Rosenkavalier: From Chevalier to Cavalier. Boydell & Brewer. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-78327-049-1.
  14. ↑ H.P. Bois (1892). Four private libraries of New York. Рипол Классик. p. 96. ISBN 978-5-87738-216-9.
  15. ↑ Mary E. Davis (15 October 2010). Ballets Russes Style: Diaghilev's Dancers and Paris Fashion. Reaktion Books. p. 109. ISBN 978-1-86189-885-2.

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