Pen and Ink school scene by Henri J. Geoffroy

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Henri Jules Jean Geoffroy
Pen and Ink school scene by Henri J. Geoffroy

About the Item

Jean Geoffroy was a unique, well-known, and successful French artist active in Paris during the last quarter of the nineteenth- and first-quarter of the twentieth-centuries. Geoffroy’s name (signed most often ‘Geo’) is synonymous with charming depictions of Breton children and Breton town life. Jean Geoffroy was born in 1853 to Jean Baptiste Geoffroy and Rosalie Dickinson in the Atlantic coastal town of Marennes. At age eighteen, Jean was apprenticed to the painter Eugène Levasseur. Shortly thereafter, having shown an immediate talent and discipline, Geoffroy entered the École des Beaux-arts in Paris. During his time in Paris, Geoffroy resided with Mr. and Mrs. Girard on rue de Faubourg-du-Temple, and spent his days in the ateliers of the celebrated academic painters Léon Joseph Bonnat, Eugène Adan and Eugène Bin. Though he was proficiently versed in numerous artistic media, including drawing, etching, watercolor, and oil; and most subject matter, Jean Geoffroy was most attracted to the study and depiction of children in everyday settings. The artist portrayed a myriad of situations, indoors and out, including: playing games; frolicking in the park; observing puppet or other traveling acts; at market, at the nursery, or attending school lessons. In most instances his subjects, though obviously young children, appear as miniature-versions of ladies and gentlemen. Jean Geoffroy never sought to idealize his subjects; rather, his aim for the picturesque was achieved through capturing spontaneity and clever points-of-view unique to childhood folly. His quick drawings and en plein air technique were precisely the techniques for depicting the moods of his subjects. Geoffroy’s works garnered the admiration and support of connoisseurs throughout Paris. He was frequently commissioned by well-to-do families to paint portraits of their little ones. In 1874, at the age of twenty-one, Geoffroy debuted at the official salon in Paris. Because of his work’s immediate appeal, the artist maintained an active and nearly continuous exhibition schedule. His career at the salon was rewarded with an honorable mention in 1881, bronze medal in 1883 and silver medal in 1886. A gold medal was presented to Geoffroy at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900. During his lifetime, the artist was represented by the renowned art dealer Georges Petit. Early in his career, Geoffroy made the acquaintance of Pierre-Jules Hetzel, the celebrated editor of Jules Verne. With the encouragement of Hetzel, Geoffroy essayed the medium of illustration as well as the occasional authorship of children’s books. He earned recognition for the charming vignettes and was sought by not only Hetzel but the publishers Charles Delegrave and Louis Hachette. Publications such as Lecture pour Tous; Le Petit Francais Illustré; Saint Nicolas; Vie Moderne, and L’Université Moderne regularly carried his illustrations. The uneasy view of the future, and most evident, the political struggle between Adolphe Theirs’ Third Republic and the left-wing Commune, was a preoccupation of each and every member of the Parisian community. Suffering from the humiliating defeat to the Germans in the Franco-Prussian war, a brutal winter and mass starvation, many artists fled the city for Brussels and London. Those who stayed experienced possibly one of the most profound periods of French history when the victory of the Third Republic restructured and formed the base of French government until the 1940’s. Once sentiments surmounted the shocks caused by the loss of the Franco-Prussian war, the French turned their attentions to a championing of liberties against the Paris Commune and other oppressive industries. Focus was put upon elevating efforts such as the establishment of secular programs for the lower classes. Schooling, hospitals and other methods of charity geared at meeting the social needs of the time deeply affected Geoffroy and earned his patronage and the backing of other optimistic Parisians. As a display of his support, Geoffroy painted works for the hospitals of the children and other poignant settings of the Third Republic. More than ever, his paintings of children served as a relief to a public then seeking a sign of hope. Geoffroy’s efforts did not go unnoticed by his country. In 1885, he was accepted into the Légion of Honor and recognized by other honorable associations, such as the Société des Artistes Français, for his optimistic and sentimental interpretations of childhood. When interviewed by the journalist Henri Frantz in 1901, Geoffroy stated, “the first necessity for a great artist is to be of his time and to translate with the most fidelity possible the scenes that appear before his eyes. As he tries to redeem in each thing the element of beauty that it requires, the painter has to work in nature and he will remain faithful.”

Creator:
Henri Jules Jean Geoffroy
Dimensions:
Height: 16 in (40.64 cm)Width: 28 in (71.12 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
Medium:
Ink
Movement & Style:
Academic
Period:
Late 19th Century
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Washington, DC
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU123825765791