Jun 09, 2022 - Sale 2608

Sale 2608 - Lot 189

Price Realized: $ 1,250
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900

CHARLES LÉANDRE (1862-1934)

Joseph Prudhomme / Death at the Wheel.

Caricature of Prudhomme, likely published in Le Rire, 1904. Charcoal and white wash on paper, mounted to board. 490x435 mm; 19 1/4x17 1/4 inches. Signed and dated "C. Léandre 1904" in upper left image. Exhibited/Provenance: P. Navez, Paris / Exposition de Bruxelles, with printed and manuscript label on verso.
The plump, foolish and sententious bourgeois Monsieur Prudhomme appeared in several of Henry Monnier's plays, in which he himself portrayed his creation. Later Prudhomme was borrowed for plays by such illustrious authors as Balzac, Verlaine, Sacha Guitry, et al.
In this caricature, Léandre portrays Prudhomme enjoying the speed of the automobile, oblivious to the carnage he is wreaking.