La Vie de Monsieur Quelconque (The Life of Mister Ordinary)

René-Georges Hermann-Paul

1894–95 · Lithograph · Drawings and Prints

One of two series produced by Hermann-Paul under the ironic heading of "The Great Spectacles of Nature," the suite of ten prints follows the life cycle of the average bourgeois Frenchman in the last decade of the nineteenth century. Between birth and death, he falls in love twice; fulfills his patriotic and civic duties; is decorated and celebrated by his friends; enters public service to appear in official ceremonies; then falls ill. With this portfolio, Hermann-Paul established his reputation as a talented lithographer and biting satirist. Borrowing the language of the natural scientist, he mocks the customs and morals of his contemporaries with his caricatural style.

Artist

René-Georges Hermann-Paul

Date

1894–95

Medium

Lithograph

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

A. Hyatt Mayor Purchase Fund, Marjorie Phelps Starr Bequest, [year]