Georges Goursat
Encyclopedia
Georges Goursat known as Sem, was a French caricaturist
famous during the Belle Époque
.
. The wealth inherited from his father at the age of 21 allowed him to sustain a gilded youth.
In 1888 he self published
in Périgueux his first three albums of caricatures, signing some as "SEM" (Figure, left), allegedly as a tribute to Amédée de Noé
who signed his caricatures for Le Monde illustré as "Cham".
From 1890 to 1898, he settled for a few years in Bordeaux
. During this period, he published more albums and his first press caricatures in and discovered the work of Leonetto Cappiello
. His style matured, becoming both simpler and more precise.
During the same period, he made trips to Paris. In 1891, he designed two posters printed in the workshop of Jules Chéret
(Figure, right) for the singer . He published his first caricatures of artists in L'Illustration
and Le Rire
(Paulus, Polin and Yvette Guilbert
).
From 1898 to 1900, he lived in Marseille. During this stay, he met Jean Lorrain
who convinced him to live in Paris.
.
He picked horse races
as his way of entry in high society
. In June, three months after his arrival, he self-published a new album, Le Turf, with caricatures of many prominent Parisian socialites (Marquess
Boni de Castellane, Prince Trubetskoy
, Count
Clermont-Tonnerre, Baron Alphonse
and Gustave de Rothschild, Polaire
). The success of this album made him famous overnight. In October of the same year, he published another album, Paris-Trouville, with the same success. Nine others followed until 1913.
In 1904, Goursat received the Légion d'honneur. In 1909, he exhibited with the painter Auguste Roubille, first in Paris, then in Monte Carlo and London. a diorama
, composed of hundreds of wooden figurine
s "of all the merely Paris celebrities".
, Goursat was not drafted
. He nevertheless involved himself as a war correspondent
for Le Journal
. Some of his rather "chauvinistic" articles had an "enormous impact". Ten were published in 1917 in Un pékin sur le front. Two others were incorporated in 1923 in another book, La Ronde de Nuit. In 1916 and 1918 Goursat published two albums of Croquis de Guerre (War sketches). Their style is completely different from his previous work. He also designed posters for war bonds.
. After a heart attack
in 1933, he passed away abruptly in 1934.
Caricature
A caricature is a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.Caricatures can be...
famous during the Belle Époque
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, it was a period characterised by optimism and new technological and medical...
.
Youth (1863-1900)
Georges Goursat was born and raised in an upper middle-class family of PérigueuxPérigueux
Périgueux is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.Périgueux is the prefecture of the department and the capital of the region...
. The wealth inherited from his father at the age of 21 allowed him to sustain a gilded youth.
In 1888 he self published
Self-publishing
Self-publishing is the publication of any book or other media by the author of the work, without the involvement of an established third-party publisher. The author is responsible and in control of entire process including design , formats, price, distribution, marketing & PR...
in Périgueux his first three albums of caricatures, signing some as "SEM" (Figure, left), allegedly as a tribute to Amédée de Noé
Amédée de Noé
Charles Amédée de Noé, known as Cham was a French caricaturist and lithographer. Raised by a family who wished him to attend a polytechnic school, he instead attended painting workshops by Nicolas Charlet and Paul Delaroche and began work as a cartoonist, taking on the pseudonym "Cham"...
who signed his caricatures for Le Monde illustré as "Cham".
From 1890 to 1898, he settled for a few years in Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
. During this period, he published more albums and his first press caricatures in and discovered the work of Leonetto Cappiello
Leonetto Cappiello
Leonetto Cappiello was an Italian poster art designer who lived in Paris. He is now often called 'the father of modern advertising' because of his innovation in poster design...
. His style matured, becoming both simpler and more precise.
During the same period, he made trips to Paris. In 1891, he designed two posters printed in the workshop of Jules Chéret
Jules Chéret
Jules Chéret was a French painter and lithographer who became a master of Belle Époque poster art. He has been called the father of the modern poster. -Biography:...
(Figure, right) for the singer . He published his first caricatures of artists in L'Illustration
L'Illustration
L'Illustration was a weekly French newspaper published in Paris. It was founded by Edouard Charton; the first issue was published on March 4, 1843....
and Le Rire
Le Rire
Le Rire, or "Laughter," was a successful humor magazine published from October 1894 through the 1950s. Founded in Paris during the Belle Époque by Felix Juven, Le Rire appeared as typical Parisians began to achieve more education, income and leisure time. Interest in the arts, culture and politics...
(Paulus, Polin and Yvette Guilbert
Yvette Guilbert
Yvette Guilbert was a French cabaret singer and actress of the Belle Époque.-Biography:...
).
From 1898 to 1900, he lived in Marseille. During this stay, he met Jean Lorrain
Jean Lorrain
Jean Lorrain , born Paul Duval, was a French poet and novelist of the Symbolist school....
who convinced him to live in Paris.
Belle Époque (1900-1914)
Goursat arrived in Paris in March 1900, at the time of the opening of the Universal ExpositionExposition Universelle (1900)
The Exposition Universelle of 1900 was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from April 15 to November 12, 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next...
.
He picked horse races
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
as his way of entry in high society
High society (group)
High society refers to a category of people deemed to have greater social status or prestige, and their related affiliations, social events and practices which together define a group variously referred to as "Society" or high society. Such groups are defined by certain key events and cultural...
. In June, three months after his arrival, he self-published a new album, Le Turf, with caricatures of many prominent Parisian socialites (Marquess
Marquess
A marquess or marquis is a nobleman of hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The term is also used to translate equivalent oriental styles, as in imperial China, Japan, and Vietnam...
Boni de Castellane, Prince Trubetskoy
Trubetskoy family
Trubetskoy , Трубецкой , Трубяцкі , Trubecki , Trubetsky , Трубецький , Troubetzkoy , Trubezkoi or Trubetzkoy , is a Ruthenian Gediminid gentry family of Black Ruthenian stock, like many other princely houses of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, later prominent in Russian...
, Count
Count
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
Clermont-Tonnerre, Baron Alphonse
Alphonse James de Rothschild
Mayer Alphonse James Rothschild , was a French, financier, vineyard owner, art collector, philanthropist, racehorse owner/breeder and a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of France.-Biography:...
and Gustave de Rothschild, Polaire
Polaire
Polaire was the stage name used by French singer and actress Émilie Marie Bouchaud .Born at Agha, Algiers, Algeria, according to her memoirs she was one of eleven children of whom only four - Emilie, her two brothers Edmond and Marcel, and a sister, Lucile - survived infancy...
). The success of this album made him famous overnight. In October of the same year, he published another album, Paris-Trouville, with the same success. Nine others followed until 1913.
In 1904, Goursat received the Légion d'honneur. In 1909, he exhibited with the painter Auguste Roubille, first in Paris, then in Monte Carlo and London. a diorama
Diorama
The word diorama can either refer to a nineteenth century mobile theatre device, or, in modern usage, a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum...
, composed of hundreds of wooden figurine
Figurine
A figurine is a statuette that represents a human, deity or animal. Figurines may be realistic or iconic, depending on the skill and intention of the creator. The earliest were made of stone or clay...
s "of all the merely Paris celebrities".
World War I (1914-1918)
Aged over 50 at the start of of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Goursat was not drafted
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
. He nevertheless involved himself as a war correspondent
War correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
for Le Journal
Le Journal (Paris)
Le Journal was a Paris daily newspaper published from 1892 to 1944 in a small, four-page format.It was founded and edited by Fernand Arthur Pierre Xau until 1899...
. Some of his rather "chauvinistic" articles had an "enormous impact". Ten were published in 1917 in Un pékin sur le front. Two others were incorporated in 1923 in another book, La Ronde de Nuit. In 1916 and 1918 Goursat published two albums of Croquis de Guerre (War sketches). Their style is completely different from his previous work. He also designed posters for war bonds.
Années Folles (1918-1934)
After the war, Goursat came back to the kind of caricatures that made him famous. In 1919, he published Le Grand Monde à l'envers (High Society upside down). Around 1923, he published 3 almums under the general title of Le Nouveau Monde (The New World). In 1923, he was made an officer of the Légion d'honneur. In 1929, he was severely impoverished by the economic crisisGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. After a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in 1933, he passed away abruptly in 1934.
Personalities caricatured by Goursat
| Name, surname | Occupation | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Alexandrovich, Vladimir Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia ) was a son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia... |
Socialite | |
| Annunzio, Gabriele d' Gabriele D'Annunzio Gabriele D'Annunzio or d'Annunzio was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, and dramatist... |
Writer | |
| Astruc, Gabriel Gabriel Astruc Gabriel Astruc was a French journalist, agent, promoter, theatre manager, theatrical impresario, and playwright whose career connects many of the best-known incidents and personalities of Belle Epoque Paris.- Biography :... |
Impresario | |
| Balthy, Louise | Actress | |
| Bennett, Gordon James Gordon Bennett, Jr. James Gordon Bennett, Jr. was publisher of the New York Herald, founded by his father, James Gordon Bennett, Sr., who emigrated from Scotland. He was generally known as Gordon Bennett to distinguish him from his father.... |
Publisher | |
| Blanc, Edmond | Politician | |
| Blériot, Louis Louis Blériot Louis Charles Joseph Blériot was a French aviator, inventor and engineer. In 1909 he completed the first flight across a large body of water in a heavier-than-air craft, when he crossed the English Channel. For this achievement, he received a prize of £1,000... |
Aviator | |
| Boldini, Giovanni Giovanni Boldini Giovanni Boldini was an Italian genre and portrait painter. According to , he was known as the "Master of Swish" because of his flowing style of painting.-Early life:... |
Painter | |
| Borbon, Alfonso de Alfonso XIII of Spain Alfonso XIII was King of Spain from 1886 until 1931. His mother, Maria Christina of Austria, was appointed regent during his minority... |
King | |
| Brasseur, Albert | Actor | |
| Brieux, Eugène | Writer | |
| Capel, Arthur "Boy" Boy Capel Captain Arthur Edward "Boy" Capel CBE was an English polo player, possibly best-remembered for being a lover and muse of fashion designer Coco Chanel.-Biography:... |
Polo player | |
| Cappiello, Leonetto Leonetto Cappiello Leonetto Cappiello was an Italian poster art designer who lived in Paris. He is now often called 'the father of modern advertising' because of his innovation in poster design... |
Poster artist | |
| Capus, Alfred Alfred Capus Alfred Capus was a French journalist and playwright, born in Aix-en-Provence and deceased in Neuilly-sur-Seine.-Biography:Son to a lawyer from Marseille, Alfred Capus went to university in Toulon... |
Writer | |
| Castellane, Boni de | Socialite | |
| Chanel, Coco Coco Chanel Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel was a pioneering French fashion designer whose modernist thought, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her an important figure in 20th-century fashion. She was the founder of one of the most famous fashion brands, Chanel... |
Designer | |
| Colette, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette Colette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph... |
Writer | |
| Croisset, Francis de Francis de Croisset Francis de Croisset was a Belgium-born French playwright and opera librettist.His opera librettos include Massenet's Chérubin , based on his play of the same name, and Reynaldo Hahn's Ciboulette .He married, in 1910, Marie-Thérèse Bischoffsheim, the widow of banking heir Maurice Bischoffsheim and... |
Dramatist | |
| Deval, Marguerite Marguerite Deval -Selected filmography:* The Man of the Hour * Lady Killer * Street Without Joy * Nine Bachelors * President Haudecoeur * Bécassine * Mademoiselle Béatrice... |
Singer | |
| Donnay, Maurice | Dramatist | |
| Doumer, Paul Paul Doumer Joseph Athanase Paul Doumer, commonly known as Paul Doumer was the President of France from 13 June 1931 until his assassination.-Biography:... |
President | |
| Ephrussi, Maurice | Financier | |
| Feydeau, Georges Georges Feydeau Georges Feydeau was a French playwright of the era known as the Belle Époque. He is remembered for his many lively farces.-Biography:Georges Feydeau was born in Paris, the son of novelist Ernest-Aimé Feydeau and Léocadie Bogaslawa Zalewska. At the age of twenty, Feydeau wrote his first comic... |
Writer | |
| Forain, Jean-Louis Jean-Louis Forain Jean-Louis Forain was a French Impressionist painter, lithographer, watercolorist and etcher.-Overview:Forain was born in Reims, Marne but at age eight, his family moved to Paris. He began his career working as a caricaturist for several Paris journals including Le Monde Parisien and Le rire... |
Painter | |
| Fursy, Henri | Variety singer | |
| Gauthier-Villars, Henry Henry Gauthier-Villars Henry Gauthier-Villars or Willy, his nom-de-plume, was a French fin-de-siecle writer and music critic who is today mostly known as the mentor and bisexual first husband of Colette... |
Writer | |
| Guitry, Lucien Lucien Guitry Lucien Germain Guitry was a French actor.In 1885, while living in Saint Petersburg, he appeared at the French Theatre. His son, the future actor, writer and director Sacha Guitry, was born in Saint Petersburg and named in honour of Tsar Alexander III... |
Actor | |
| Guitry, Sacha Sacha Guitry Alexandre-Pierre Georges Guitry was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the Boulevard theatre.- Biography :... |
Actor | |
| Guyon, Charles-Alexandre | Actor | |
| Hahn, Reynaldo Reynaldo Hahn Reynaldo Hahn was a Venezuelan, naturalised French, composer, conductor, music critic and diarist. Best known as a composer of songs, he wrote in the French classical tradition of the mélodie.... |
Composer | |
| Adien Hébrard | Journalist | |
| Helleu, Paul Paul César Helleu Paul César Helleu was a French artist best known for his portraits of many of the most famous and beautiful women of his time including the Duchess of Marlborough, the Countess of Greffulhe, the Marchesa Casati and Belle da Costa Greene.-Biography:He was born in Vannes, Brittany, France... |
Painter | |
| Hervieu, Paul Paul Hervieu Paul Hervieu, full name Paul-Ernest Hervieu , French dramatist and novelist, was born at Neuilly-sur-Seine.-Biography:... |
Dramatist | |
| Humbert, Charles | Senatot | |
| Lambert, Charles de Charles de Lambert (aviator) Charles, Count de Lambert, was an early European aviator.De Lambert was the first person in France to be taught to fly by Wilbur Wright. The first lesson took place at Le Mans on 28 October 1908... |
Aviator | |
| Lafitte, Pierre | Publisher | |
| Latham, Hubert | Aviator | |
| Lavallière, Ève | Actress | |
| Letellier, Henri | Publisher | |
| Lorrain, Jean Jean Lorrain Jean Lorrain , born Paul Duval, was a French poet and novelist of the Symbolist school.... |
Writer | _par_sem_(georges_goursat,_1863-1934).jpg) 60px |
| Massenet, Jules Jules Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas... |
Composer | |
| Mendès, Catulle Catulle Mendès Catulle Mendès was a French poet and man of letters.Of Portuguese Jewish extraction, he was born in Bordeaux. He early established himself in Paris and promptly attained notoriety by the publication in the Revue fantaisiste of his Roman d'une nuit, for which he was condemned to a month's... |
Writer | |
| Mérode, Cléo de Cléo de Mérode Cléo de Mérode was a French dancer of the Belle Époque.-Biography:Cléopatra Diane de Mérode was born in Paris, France, the daughter of the Austrian landscape painter, Karl von Merode . The painter belonged to a famous Belgian noble family 'de Mérode'... |
Dancer | 60px |
| Montesquiou, Robert de Robert de Montesquiou Marie Joseph Robert Anatole, comte de Montesquiou-Fézensac , was a French aesthete, Symbolist poet, art collector and dandy.... |
Poet | _-_robert_de_montesquiou_(1891).jpg) |
| Morand, Paul Paul Morand Paul Morand was a French diplomat, novelist, playwright and poet, considered an early Modernist.He was a graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Studies... |
Writer | |
| Noailles, Anna de | Writer | |
| Noailles, Emmanuel de | Diplomat | |
| Pahlavi, Reza Reza Shah Rezā Shāh, also known as Rezā Shāh Pahlavi and Rezā Shāh Kabir , , was the Shah of the Imperial State of Iran from December 15, 1925, until he was forced to abdicate by the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran on September 16, 1941.In 1925, Reza Shah overthrew Ahmad Shah Qajar, the last Shah of the Qajar... |
Shah | |
| Paquin, Jeanne Jeanne Paquin Jeanne Paquin was a French fashion designer, known for her resolutely modern and innovative designs.Born in Saint-Denis in 1869, Paquin trained as a dressmaker at Rouff and later opened her own fashion house in 1891, the first woman to ever do so... |
Designer | |
| Pierpont Morgan, John | Financier | |
| Poiré, Emmanuel (Caran d'Ache) Caran d'Ache Caran d'Ache was the pseudonym of the 19th century French satirist and political cartoonist Emmanuel Poiré. "Caran d'Ache" comes from the Russian word karandash , meaning pencil... |
Cartoonist | |
| Polaire Polaire Polaire was the stage name used by French singer and actress Émilie Marie Bouchaud .Born at Agha, Algiers, Algeria, according to her memoirs she was one of eleven children of whom only four - Emilie, her two brothers Edmond and Marcel, and a sister, Lucile - survived infancy... |
Actress | |
| Porto-Riche, Georges de | Writer | |
| Pougy, Liane de Liane de Pougy Liane de Pougy , was a Folies Bergères dancer renowned as one of Paris's most beautiful and notorious courtesans.- Early Life and Marriage :... |
Dancer | 60px |
| Puccini, Giacomo Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire... |
French | |
| Rostand, Edmond Edmond Rostand Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism, and is best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century... |
Dramatist | |
| Rostand, Maurice Maurice Rostand Maurice Rostand was a French author, the son of the noted poet and dramatist Edmond Rostand and the poet Rosemonde Gérard, and brother of the biologist Jean Rostand.Rostand was a writer of poems, novels, and plays... |
Writer | |
| Rougier, Henri Henri Rougier Henri Louis Rougier, was a French sportsman, racing cyclist, pioneer aeroplane pilot and sporting motorist. He is best remembered for his victory in the inaugural Monte Carlo Rally when he drove his Turcat-Méry from Paris to Monte Carlo, but he was also a regular competitor in both 'City to City'... |
Aviator | |
| Santos-Dumont, Alberto Alberto Santos-Dumont Alberto Santos-Dumont , was a Brazilian early pioneer of aviation. The heir of a wealthy family of coffee producers, Santos Dumont dedicated himself to science studies in Paris, France, where he spent most of his adult life.... |
Aviator | |
| Sardou, Victorien Victorien Sardou Victorien Sardou was a French dramatist. He is best remembered today for his development, along with Eugène Scribe, of the well-made play... |
Dramatist | |
| Vionnet, Madeleine Madeleine Vionnet This article is about the haute couture designer. For the fashion label, see Vionnet Madeleine Vionnet was a French fashion designer... |
Designer | |
| Wall, Berry Evander Berry Wall Evander Berry Wall , was a New York dude who became famous in the 1880s for his extravagantly refined look.-A Young Prince Prodigal:He was the son of Charles Wall and Elizabeth A. Wall, and the brother of James R... |
Socialite |  |