Masks and faces
1857–58
Medium
Lithograph in black on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 20.1 × 16.1 cm (7 15/16 × 6 3/8 in.); Sheet: 43.4 × 30.6 cm (17 1/8 × 12 1/16 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
11045
Art Historical Context
Paul Gavarni's *Masks and Faces* (1857–58) is a captivating lithograph that exemplifies the artist's mastery of social satire during France's Second Empire. Gavarni, a renowned 19th-century illustrator and caricaturist, was celebrated for his sharp observations of Parisian life, fashion, and human folly. Working in black ink on ivory wove paper, this print measures a modest image of 20.1 × 16.1 cm, yet its larger sheet (43.4 × 30.6 cm) allowed for detailed distribution in periodicals like *Le Charivari*. Lithography, a revolutionary technique Gavarni helped popularize, enabled artists to draw ...
About the Artist
Paul Gavarni
Paul Gavarni, born Sulpice Guillaume Chevalier on January 13, 1804, in Paris to a cooper father from Burgundy and mother Marie-Monique Thiémet—whose brother, painter Guillaume Thiémet, served as his godfather—began his career far from the art world. As a youth, he worked in a machine factory and studied mechanical drawing at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers in 1818, followed by evening classe...