Draner, actually Jules Joseph Georges Renard (12 November 1833 in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

– 1926 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

), was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

Illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

and

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

. Draner, who began working as an illustrator for renowned newspapers in 1861 and resided in Paris, created late costumes for a variety of renowned theaters and opera houses. He is also considered to be an early Belgian comics artist.

Biography

Life

Jules Renard was born in 1833 in Liège, the son of a

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer ( fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * Jame ...

and

bookseller Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librari ...

who printed in 1850 the ''Almanac of Mathieu Lansberg.'' Later he formed his name "Draner" as an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

of his surname Renard, a name that he used all his life in all his drawings, although he was also known as "Paf". After leaving school, he worked as secretary in the administration of the ''Société des Mines et de Zinc de la Vieille Fonderies-Montagne'', an enterprise of the zinc industry in his home town. As an

autodidact Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning and self-teaching) is education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or institutions (such as schools). Generally, autodidacts are individua ...

, he began drawing and creating his first caricatures on motives that he found in the everyday life of Liège and soon began working with local newspapers. Between 1852 and 1861, he worked for the Brussels paper ''Uylenspiegel,'' founded by

Félicien Rops Félicien Victor Joseph Rops (7 July 1833 – 23 August 1898) was a Belgian artist associated with Symbolism and the Parisian Fin-de Siecle. He was a painter, illustrator, caricaturist and a prolific and innovative print maker, particularly in ...

. In 1861, he moved to Paris, where the ''Société des Mines et de Zinc de la Vieille Fonderies-Montagne'' had a branch. In the beginning of his Parisian years, he primarily caricatured military life in his drawings; between 1861 and 1864, he had already produced 136 colored lithographs on this topic, portraying himself as a military of different nationality in an ironic way. He published these images in albums such as ''Types militaires de toutes les nations'', ''Nouvelle vie militaire'', and ''Le colonel Ramollot''. From 1866, he worked as an illustrator for the satirical magazine ''

Le Charivari ''Le Charivari'' was an illustrated magazine published in Paris, France, from 1832 to 1937. It published caricatures, political cartoons and reviews. After 1835, when the government banned political caricature, ''Le Charivari'' began publishing ...

'', where, in 1879, he succeeded

Amédée de Noé Amédée is a French masculine forename. Notable people with the forename include: Persons * Amédée, stage name of Philippe de Chérisey (1923-1985), French writer, radio humorist, surrealist and actor *Amédée Artus (1815-1892), French condu ...

, known as "Cham" (1818-1879), as a regular illustrator. In addition, his amusing drawings appeared in magazines such as '' La Caricature'', ''L'Eclipse'', ''Le Monde Classique'', ''Paris-Comique'', ''L'Illustration'', ''Le Monde Illustré'', '' Le journal amusant'' and ''Petit Journal''. From 1864 to 1893, Draner also designed costumes for theater and opera houses. His imaginative stage costumes were designed for performances at

La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, the

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dr ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the Théâtre des Galeries Saint-Hubert in Brussels, the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, as well as the Parisian stages of the

Théâtre du Châtelet The Théâtre du Châtelet () is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. One of two theatres (the other being the Théâtre de la Ville) built on the site of a ''châtelet'', a s ...

, Théâtre de la Renaissance, Éden-Theatre or the

Folies Bergère The Folies Bergère () is a cabaret music hall, located in Paris, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret. It opened on 2 May 1869 as the Folies Trév ...

and including most of the works of

Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (, also , , ; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario of the Romantic period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera '' ...

. Draner died in Paris in 1926, at the age of 93, and his drawings estate was then donated to the

University of Liège The University of Liège (french: Université de Liège), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French. As of 2020, ULiège is ranked in the 301 ...

Works

* Maxime Aubray, ''L’album de la Colonelle'' Paris, E. Dentu. * Maxime Aubray, ''Joyeuses histoires du mess et de la chambrée Le 145° régiment'' Paris, Librairie illustrée. * Pierre Véron, ''L'art de vivre cent ans'' Paris, E. Dentu. (1884). * Charles Leroy, ''Les fredaines du commandant Vermoulu'' Ernest Kolb. * Adrien Huart, ''La nouvelle vie militaire'' Paris, Librairie illustrée. * ''Au Bureau de l'Eclipse'' - Portfolio containing a collection of drawings (Paris, c. 1870) ** ''Les Soldats de la République. L'Armée Française en campagne'' (31 plates) ** ''Souvenirs du Siège de Paris. Les Défenseurs de la Capitale'' (31 plates) ** ''Paris assiégé. Scènes de la vie parisienne pendant le siège'' (31 plates) * ''Types Militaires: Galerie Militaire de Toutes les Nations'' (Paris, Lemercier et Cie, c. 1862-1871) * ''Types militaires réédition octobre 2007'' C. Hérissey, Janzé, Ille-et-Vilaine. * ''Souvenirs de l’Exposition de 1867'' Types pris sur nature par Draner Dusacq et Cie.

Gallery

References

;Attribution *''This article is based on the translation of the corresponding article of the French Wikipedia. A list of contributors can be found there at the''

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

''section''.

External links

*
Biografie of Draner
at the University of Liège website {{DEFAULTSORT:Draner 1833 births 1926 deaths Belgian illustrators Belgian cartoonists Belgian caricaturists Belgian comics artists Belgian costume designers 19th-century Belgian painters 19th-century Belgian male artists 20th-century Belgian painters 20th-century Belgian male artists