Edmond Lavrate

Sargent - Drawing by Edmond Lavrate - 19th century

19th century

Edmond Lavrate was a French lithographer, anticlerical draftsman and inventor of the affiche advertisements. With the advent of the Republic, the draftsman attacked the figure of Napoleon III. One of his legendary watercolors, with the caption "Badinguet going to war, Rolled Sedan," was seized in 1872 at Leloup. This merchant was then described by a police report as "known for his political exaltation," that is, advanced Republican. Émile Bayard says about Lavrate in 1900 with this words, "Here is a very crude charge, of a delicate taste but which nevertheless makes you laugh with its intention of overflowing gaiety, its boundless fantasy, thanks to the very accessible nature of the common heavy sketches, illuminated with the devil, underlined by a very appropriate legend. His colored boards still cover the walls in the country. The Anticlerical draftsman is described by Guillaume Doizy. In addition to the republican anticlerical political caricature, Lavrate invented the anticlerical caricature of morals, by attacking a clergy, which, in its sociological diversity, will become the target of the free-thinking press after 1900. Of the religious question, Lavrate appears as a forerunner. We understand why he was, after 1900, extensively reissued by the militant press."