Tony Johannot, "King of illustration"

Tony Johannot is a great illustration of the 19th century. In Le Voyage où il vous plaira by Alfred de Musset, his trait flirts with the fantastic and recalls his contemporary Grandville, also born in 1803. By contrast, for Mes prisons by Silvio Pellico, his style is rather classical whereas for the illustrated edition of Moliere's works , the trait is more caricatural.

Théophile Gautier sums up the talent and reputation of this generous illustrator :

« Tony Johannot est sans contredit le roi de l’illustration. Il y a quelques années, un roman, un poème ne pouvait paraitre sans une vignette sur bois signée de lui : que d’héroïnes à la taille frêle, au col de cygne, aux cheveux ruisselants, au pied imperceptible, il a confiées au papier de Chine ! Combien de truands en guenilles, de chevaliers armés de pied en cap, de tarasques écaillées et griffues, il a semé sur les couvertures beurre-frais ou jaune-serin des romans du moyen âge ; toute la poésie et toute la littérature ancienne et moderne lui ont passé par les mains : la Bible, Molière, Cervantes, Walter Scott, lord Byron, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Goethe, Chateaubriand, Lamartine, Victor Hugo, il les a tous compris. – Ses dessins figurent dans ces volumes admirables, et nul ne les trouve déplacés. – À côté de ces pages sublimes, de ces vers harmonieux, ils sont un ornement et non une tache ; ce que tant de génies divers ont rêvé, il a pu le rendre et le transporter dans son art.»
(in Portraits contemporains).

Currently, the librairie Loliée propose :

• La Fontaine (Jean de). Contes et Nouvelles. Paris, Ernest Bourdin et Cie, s.d., large in-8, full Levant binding. First illustred edition, with engravings by Tony Johannot, C. Roqueplan, Dévéria, C. Boulanger...
• Molière. Oeuvres. Paris, Chez Paulin, 1835, 2 volumes in-4, full red Levant binding (Noulhac). First illustrated edition with 800 vignettes by Tony Johannot.
• Prevost (l'Abbé). Histoire de Manon Lescaut et du chevalier des Grieux. Paris, Ernest Bourdin et Cie, s.d. (1839), large in-8, binding. 18 compositions and 90 vignettes by Tony Johannot.
  
• Janin (Jules). L'Ane mort. Paris, Ernest Bourdin, 1842, large in-8, demi-maroquin bleu à coins (Champs). First edition. Fronstispiece, 12 compositions and vignettes by Tony Johannot.
• Pellico (Silvio). Mes Prisons. Traduction de M.A. de Latour. Paris, Charpentier, 1843, large in-8, black Levant binding (R. Aussourd). First illustrated edition. Frontisipiece sur Chine, 25 engravings and vignettes par Tony Johannot.
• Musset (Alfred de) - Stahl (P.J.). Le Voyage où il vous plaira. Paris, Hetzel, 1843, large in-8, Bblue Levant binding (Aussourd). First illustrated edition. 63 engravings and vignettes par Tony Johannot.

Claude Weisbuch : the art of movement

Claude Weisbuch, born in Thionville in 1927, studies at the National School of Fine Arts in Nancy. He then is appointed as engraving's teacher at the School of Fine Arts in Saint Etienne. He begins to make a name in the late fifties by imposing a recognizable style built on the movement. In 1961, four years after his first exhibition in Paris, he receives the Annual Art Review award. He encounters an international success, notably in Japan.
The painter who likes especially the theme of the opera, theatre and equestrian universe illustrates in 1982 for The Cent-Une edition (Society of Bibliophiles Women), a text by Tolstoy, Le Cheval. The book is decorated with six original engravings characteristics of the blow and vivacity that the artist brings to his subjects.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Weisbuch (Claude) - Tolstoï (Léon). Le Cheval. Paris, Les Cent Une, 1982. In-4, in leaves, publisher box. Édition decorated with 6 original plate engravings by Weisbuch. Limited edition to 131 copies Moulin de Larroque paper signed by the artist.
  

Kahnweiler and modern illustrated books

Henri Kahnweiler, son of a banker in Stuttgart, moves to Paris in 1902 to work for the stock market. Determined to become a paintings dealer, he frequents art shows and galleries. He meets Guillaume Apollinaire who defends a painting of Braque exhibited at the "Salon des Indépendants" in spring 1908. Kahnweiler promotes then Cubism and becomes friend with Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris and Max Jacob. In November 1908, he organizes the first exhibition of Braque and asks Apollinaire to preface the catalogue. A year later, Kahnweiler publishes the first book of the poet, L'Enchanteur Pourrissant. Since Kahnweiler is a paintings dealer, it appears quite obvious that the book must be illustrated. Apollinaire chooses André Derain. Kahnweiler thus becomes the first publisher to promote modern illustrated books.

During the war of 1914, Kahnweiler who does not want to fight for Germany, takes refuge in Switzerland, a neutral country. In Paris, his gallery is closed and its assets placed under seal. Kahnweiler returns to France in 1920 and succeeds in opening a new gallery with the complicity of his friend André Simon. In his home in Boulogne, Kahnweiler receives, with his wife, poets and painters. It's in this atmosphere that he mounts its publishing projects. Malraux, Artaud, Masson, Leiris, Juan Gris, Picasso, Max Jacob, Vlaminck... Kahnweiler stimulates collaborations. 24 volumes are published between 1920 and 1939.
With the second war, Kahnweiler, now French, must go into hiding because of his Jewish origins. He remains close to Limoges, while Louise, the sister-in-law of Michel Leiris, takes the direction of the gallery. At the end of the war, Kahnweiler takes back the gallery renamed Gallery Louise Leiris. Remaining an exemplary publisher, Kahnweiler disappears at the age of 94, leaving behind him 70 years of contemporary painting history. His memoirs are published in the form of radio interviews, under the title My galleries and my painters.

(source : 50 ans d'édition de D.-H. Khanweiler - a catalogue nby Jan Hugues, Paris, Galerie Louise Leiris, 1959)

Currently, the library Loliée offers among the books published by Kahnweiler:

• Vlaminck (Maurice de). Communications. Paris, Galerie Simon, 1921, in-4. First edition. Poems illustred with 19 wood engravings. One of the 90 copies on sur Holland paper, signed by Vlaminck.
• Artaud(Antonin) - Lascaux (Elie). Tric trac du ciel. Paris, Galerie Simon, 1923, thin in-8. First edition of the first book by Antonin Artaud. Illustrated with 4 wood engravings by Elie Lascaux. One of the 100 copies on Arches paper, signed by the author and the artist.
  
• Jacob (Max) - Roger (Suzanne). La Couronne de Vulcain. Paris, Galerie Simon, 1923, in-8. A brittany tale illustrated with lithographies by Suzanne Roger. One of the first 10 copies improved of a suite of the lithographies in black on China paper.