Sem (artist) explained

Georges Goursat
Birth Date:23 November 1863
Birth Place:Périgueux
Death Place:Paris
Nationality:French
Other Names:Sem
Known For:caricatures, posters
Occupation:artist

Georges Goursat (23 November 1863 –), known as Sem, was a French caricaturist famous during the Belle Époque.

Life and works

Youth (1863–1900)

Georges Goursat was born and raised in an upper-middle-class family from Périgueux. The wealth inherited from his father at the age of 21 allowed him to sustain a gilded youth.

In 1888 he self-published his first three albums of caricatures in Périgueux, signing some as "SEM", allegedly as a tribute[1] to Amédée de Noé who signed his caricatures for Le Monde illustré as "Cham".[2]

He settled in Bordeaux from 1890 to 1898. During this period, he published more albums and his first press caricatures in La Petite Gironde 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 Jules Chéret's workshop for the singer Paulus. He published his first caricatures of artists in L'Illustration (Albert Brasseur) and Le Rire (Paulus, Polin and Yvette Guilbert).

Goursat lived in Marseille from 1898 to 1900,[3] where he met Jean Lorrain who convinced him to live in Paris.

Belle Époque (1900–1914)

Goursat arrived in Paris in March 1900 at the time of the Universal Exposition opening.

He chose horse racing[4] as a way to enter high society. In June 1900 he self-published his new album Le Turf of caricatures of many prominent Parisian socialites, including Marquess Boni de Castellane, Prince Trubetskoy, Count Clermont-Tonnerre, Baron Alphonse, Gustave de Rothschild, and Polaire. The album's success made him famous overnight. In October 1900 he published the album Paris-Trouville with equal success. Goursat published nine other albums before 1913.[5]

In 1904, Goursat received the Légion d'honneur.[6] In 1909, he exhibited with the painter Auguste Roubille, first in Paris and then in Monte Carlo and London. The exhibit included a diorama composed of hundreds of wooden figurines "of all the merely Paris celebrities".[7]

World War I (1914–1918)

Goursat was not drafted in World War I as he was over 50 years old at the start of the war. He nevertheless involved himself as a war correspondent for Le Journal. Some of his rather "chauvinistic" articles had an "enormous impact". Ten articles were published in 1917 in Un pékin sur le front. Two other articles were incorporated in the 1923 book La Ronde de Nuit. In 1916 and 1918 Goursat published two albums of Croquis de Guerre with a completely different style than his previous work. He also designed war bond posters.

Années Folles (1918–1934)

After the war, Goursat returned to the kind of caricatures that made him famous. In 1919, he published Le Grand Monde à l'envers . Around 1923, he published three albums under the general title of Le Nouveau Monde . In 1923, he became an officer of the Légion d'honneur.

In 1929, he was severely impoverished by the economic crisis. After a heart attack in 1933, he died in 1934.

Personalities caricatured by Goursat

Name, surnameOccupationImage
Alexandrovich, VladimirSocialite
Annunzio, Gabriele d'Writer
Astruc, GabrielImpresario
Actress
Bennett, GordonPublisher
Blanc, EdmondPolitician
Blériot, LouisAviator
Boldini, GiovanniPainter
Borbon, Alfonso deKing
Brasseur, AlbertActor
Brieux, EugèneWriter
Capel, Arthur "Boy"Polo player
Cappiello, LeonettoPoster artist
Capus, AlfredWriter
Castellane, Boni deSocialite
Chanel, CocoDesigner
Colette, Sidonie-GabrielleWriter
Croisset, Francis deDramatist
Deval, MargueriteSinger
Donnay, MauriceDramatist
Doumer, PaulPresident
Ephrussi, MauriceFinancier
Feydeau, GeorgesWriter
Forain, Jean-LouisPainter
Fursy, HenriVariety singer
Gauthier-Villars, HenryWriter
Guitry, LucienActor
Guitry, SachaActor
Actor
Hahn, ReynaldoComposer
Journalist
Helleu, PaulPainter
Hervieu, PaulDramatist
Humbert, CharlesSenator
Lambert, Charles deAviator
Publisher
Latham, HubertAviator
Lavallière, ÈveActress
Publisher
Lorrain, JeanWriter
Massenet, JulesComposer
Mendès, CatulleWriter
Mérode, Cléo deDancer
Montesquiou, Robert dePoet
Morand, PaulWriter
Noailles, Anna deWriter
Noailles, Emmanuel deDiplomat
Qajar, AhmadShah
Paquin, JeanneDesigner
Pierpont Morgan, JohnFinancier
Poiré, Emmanuel (Caran d'Ache)Cartoonist
PolaireActress
Porto-Riche, Georges deWriter
Pougy, Liane deDancer
Puccini, GiacomoComposer
Rostand, EdmondDramatist
Rostand, MauriceWriter
Rougier, HenriAviator
Santos-Dumont, AlbertoAviator
Sardou, VictorienDramatist
Vionnet, MadeleineDesigner
Wall, BerrySocialite

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Dixmier, Michel. Quand le crayon attaque: images satiriques et opinion publique en France, 1814–1918. 2007. Autrement. 978-2-7467-1052-8. 167. French.
  2. Web site: Guerrand. Roger-Henri. SEM Georges Goursat dit (1863–1934). Encyclopaedia Universalis. 3 September 2011. French.
  3. Web site: Goursat. Georges. Le port de Marseille. Réunion des Musées Nationaux. 4 September 2011. French.
  4. Web site: Flameng. François. Vizzavona. François Antoine. Portrait de M. Sem, souvenir d'Ascot. 1913. Réunion des Musées Nationaux. French.
  5. Web site: La Belle Époque. Association Sem. 4 September 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120220040725/http://www.sem-caricaturiste.info/belleEpoque.html. 20 February 2012.
  6. News: Bloc-notes parisien. Le Gaulois. 15 August 1904. French.
  7. Book: Pollard, Percival. Vagabond Journeys: The Human Comedy at Home and Abroad. 42. 1911.