Alfred Grévin
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Alfred Grévin (; 28 January 1827 – 5 May 1892) was a 19th-century caricaturist, best known during his lifetime for his caricature silhouettes of contemporary Parisian women. He was also a sculptor, cartoonist, and designed costumes and sets for popular theater. He founded with journalist Arthur Meyer the
Musée Grévin The ' (; ) () is a wax museum located on the Grands Boulevards in the 9th arrondissement of Paris on the right bank of the Seine. The also has a location in Seoul. opened in 2013, and closed in 2021. History The museum was founded in 1882 by ...
, a
waxwork museum A wax museum or waxworks usually consists of a collection of wax sculptures representing famous people from history and contemporary personalities exhibited in lifelike poses, wearing real clothes. Some wax museums have a special section dubbe ...
.


Career

Alfred Grevin was born in a house in the main street of
Épineuil Épineuil () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yonne Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France. See also *Communes of the Yonne department References

Communes of Yonne {{Avallon-ge ...
in 1827. He studied natural sciences and drawing at the College of Tonnerre.Les personnalités tonnerroises
His first job was as an apprentice draughtsman for Paris à Lyon à la Méditerranée railways. In his free time, he would draw for fun. In 1853 he moved to Paris. He put his cartooning talents at the service of the newspaper ''
Le Gaulois () was a French daily newspaper, founded in 1868 by Edmond Tarbé and Henry de Pène. After a printing stoppage, it was revived by Arthur Meyer in 1882 with notable collaborators Paul Bourget, Alfred Grévin, Abel Hermant, and Ernest Dau ...
'', then headed by Arthur Meyer. He then went on to work for '' Le Journal amusant'' and ''
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 ...
''. To supplement his meager salary as a cartoonist and illustrator, he worked as a theater costume designer, and wrote plays. By 1867 he was able settle in a home in
Saint-Mandé Saint-Mandé (; named for Saint Maudez) is a Communes of France, commune in the Val-de-Marne Departments of France, department in Île-de-France, in the high-end eastern inner suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre zero, cent ...
, a
16bis rue de Berulle
Patrimoine de la ville de Saint Mandé
/ref> In 1869 he founded l'Almanach des Parisiennes with
Louis Adrien Huart Louis may refer to: People * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer Other uses * Louis (coin), a French coin * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also * ...
, and in 1875 Grévin designed the 673 costumes for
Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. He was a p ...
's opéra-féerie ''
Le voyage dans la lune ''A Trip to the Moon'' ( , ) is a 1902 French science-fiction adventure trick film written, directed, and produced by Georges Méliès. Inspired by the Jules Verne novel ''From the Earth to the Moon'' (1865) and its sequel '' Around the Moon' ...
'', and later for Charles Lecocq's opera comique '' The Daughter of Madame Angot'' In 1881, Meyer had the idea, along with Alfred Grévin, to represent the personalities that made the front page of the news section as wax
mannequin A mannequin (sometimes spelled as manikin and also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off dif ...
s, which allowed visitors – in an era before photography was used in the press – to put a face to the names in the news. This was the beginning of the
Musée Grévin The ' (; ) () is a wax museum located on the Grands Boulevards in the 9th arrondissement of Paris on the right bank of the Seine. The also has a location in Seoul. opened in 2013, and closed in 2021. History The museum was founded in 1882 by ...
, which opened its doors on 5 June 1882 and swiftly became successful. Grévin met
Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...
on several occasions, whom he wanted to include a portrait of in his collections. Grevin spent the final two years of his life paralyzed, and died of a sudden stroke of apoplexy in 1892 at
Saint-Mandé Saint-Mandé (; named for Saint Maudez) is a Communes of France, commune in the Val-de-Marne Departments of France, department in Île-de-France, in the high-end eastern inner suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre zero, cent ...
.


References


External links


Les Parisiennes
a collection of Grévin's illustrations
Grévin's illustrations in Le Journal amusant
digital editions from
Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
*
Personalities of TonnerreHeritage City of Saint Mandé
*Works by Grévin o
Christie's ArtLiveauctioneers
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grevin, Alfred 1827 births 1892 deaths People from Yonne French caricaturists French editorial cartoonists French costume designers French sculptors