Laugh Lines: Caricaturing Painting in Nineteenth-Century France

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This is the first book length study of Salon caricature, a widespread genre of press illustration that flourished in Paris in the second half of the 19th century. Salon caricature began with a few tentative lithographs in the 1840s and, within a few decades, no Parisian exhibition could open without appearing in warped, incisive, and hilarious miniature in the pages of the illustrated press. Supported by ample primary sources, from Baudelaire and Champfleury, to Grand-Carteret and Duret, as well as archival material made available here for the first time, Laugh Lines explores not only 19th-century caricature but a larger history of reproductive image technologies, including photography, and their relation to painting during the period of modernist emergence. In bringing to light this rich register of art criticism-in-pictures, Laugh Lines offers new material and methods for the study of 19th-century painting, modernism, and art historiography, notably repositioning douard Manet in relation to public laughter and comic press art. More generally, Langbein draws back the curtain on a robust culture of comedy around fine art and its reception in 19th-century France, one in which artists of every stripe, including the most sentimental or conservative, were ripe to be made hilarious.

Reviews

Widely researched, and lavishly illustrated, Laugh Lines, makes both a challenging and inspirational reading. Supported by ample studies of the abundant primary sources, from Baudelaire and Champfleury to Grand-Carteret and Duret, as well as archival material in the Bibliothque Nationale, the book straddles several areas: reproductive technologies, the practices of physiognomy, photography, Salon history, as well as into cultures of art viewing and the perception of laughter in nineteenth-century France. The books unquestionable strength are visual analyses. Langbein takes the readers on captivating journeys, which move with confidence between the original works by Delacroix, Ribot and many lesser-known artists, and the hyperactive lines of the rapidly drawn caricatures by Cham and Bertall, sometimes including also polite reproductive engravings of the same paintings for comparison. * Katarzyna Murawska-Muthesius, Journal of Art Historiography *
Laugh Lines makes a significant contribution to our understanding of cultural and artistic changes in France from the 1840s to 1880s. It offers an important corrective to the historiography on caricature and modernist painting, and illuminates shifting relations between visual art, literature, and journalism. * Jillian Lerner, Instructor in Media History, Emily Carr University of Art & Design, Canada *
In this enthralling study of nineteenth-century Salon caricature, distinctive but neglected artists like Bertall and Cham benefit from being compared with Daumier and Nadar in a wide-ranging historical analysis which explores the extensive variety of printmaking techniques available at the time. * Stephen Bann, Emeritus Professor of History of Art, Bristol University, UK *
Julia Langbeins engaging and impeccably researched volume enriches our comprehension of the spatial and social dynamics of Salon spectatorship. It will become required reading for anyone interested in art headquartered in nineteenth-century Paris. * Hollis Clayson, Bergen Evans Professor Emerita in the Humanities and Professor Emerita of Art History, Northwestern University, USA *

Author Bio

Julia Langbein is an art historian specializing in nineteenth-century French visual culture.