CARAN D'ACHE ( EMMANUEL POIRE, 1859-1909) LE JOURNAL / LA CRUEL VATENGUERRE. 55x381/2 inches. Paul Dupont, Paris. Condition B+: restoration along sharp vertical and horizontal folds; restored losses and repaired tears in margins. Emmanuel Poire was born in Russia to a French family. He chose for his artistic nom de plume the Russian word for pencil. He was an ardent nationalist and an eccentric but also an artistic genius who was known among his fellow illustrators for his ablity to draw anything from memory. A brilliant caricaturist, his cartoons, histoires sans paroles (stories without letters) were published every week for years in Le Journal and Le Figaro, two of Paris' most important newspapers. He was also the creative genius behind L'Epopee the most successful show at the Theatre d'Ombres (Shadow Theatre) at the Chat Noir cabaret. Despite his prodigious output of illustrations for both books and periodicals, he is vastly unnder appreciated by the contemporary market. He only designed a few posters. Here, to advertise a novel, "The Cruel Go to War," which he had illustrated, d'Ache presents a humorous caricature of a general.
