Jules François Felix Fleury-Husson (17 September 1821, in
Laon
Laon () is a city in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territori ...
,
Aisne – 6 December 1889, in
Sèvres
Sèvres (, ) is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Île-de-France region. The commune, which had a population of 23,251 as of 2018, is known for ...
), who wrote under the name Champfleury (), was a French
art critic
An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogu ...
and novelist, a prominent supporter of the
Realist movement in painting and fiction.
In 1843 Fleury-Husson moved to Paris. He met
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited ...
and the next year started writing art criticism under the pen-name "Champfleury" for the journal ''
L'Artiste
''L’Artiste'' was a weekly illustrated review published in Paris from 1831 to 1904, supplying "the richest single source of contemporary commentary on artists, exhibitions and trends from the Romantic era to the end of the nineteenth century."
...
''. He was one of the first to promote the work of
Gustave Courbet
Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...
, in an article appearing in an issue of ''
Le Pamphlet'' in 1848.
In 1856, during a time when the
Spanish school was still largely ignored, he advocated the work of
El Greco
Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El ...
. He wrote about the
Le Nain brothers
The three Le Nain brothers were painters in 17th-century France: Antoine Le Nain (c.1600–1648), Louis Le Nain (c.1603–1648), and Mathieu Le Nain (1607–1677). They produced genre works, portraits and portrait miniatures.
Lives and work
The ...
and
Maurice Quentin de La Tour
Maurice Quentin de La Tour (5 September 1704 – 17 February 1788) was a French Rococo portraitist who worked primarily with pastels. Among his most famous subjects were Voltaire, Rousseau, Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour.
Biography
Maurice Q ...
. He also had a brief affair in 1851 with
Eveline Hańska Eveline may refer to:
* Eveline (given name)
* "Eveline" (short story), a short story by James Joyce
* Eveline, Missouri, United States
* Eveline Street, in Windhoek, Namibia
* Eveline Township, Michigan, United States
See also
* Evelyn (dis ...
, the widow of his friend
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...
.
[Robb, Graham. Balzac: A Biography. New York: W. W. Norton &x Company, 1994. . p. 414.]
He edited the periodical ''
Le réalisme'' in 1856 and 1857.
His novels, of which the best-known is ''
Les bourgeois de Molinchart'' (1854), were among the earliest
Realist works.
In 1869 his book ''Les Chats'', a series of essays about cats including portrayals of cats by prominent artists of the time, was published by Librairie de la Société Botanique de France, edited by J. Rothschild.
From 1872 until his death in 1889 he was Chief of Collections at the
Sèvres porcelain factory.
The character of Marcel in
Henri Murger
Louis-Henri Murger, also known as Henri Murger and Henry Murger (27 March 1822 – 28 January 1861), was a French novelist and poet.
He is chiefly distinguished as the author of the 1851 book ''Scènes de la vie de bohème'' (Scenes of Bohemi ...
's ''
Scènes de la vie de bohème
''Scenes of Bohemian Life'' (original French title: ''Scènes de la vie de bohème'') is a work by Henri Murger, published in 1851. Although it is commonly called a novel, it does not follow standard novel form. Rather, it is a collection of loos ...
'', and thus the corresponding character Marcello in
Puccini
Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long li ...
's
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...
based on it, was partially based on Champfleury. Champfleury was a friend of Murger and they had roomed together for a time.
Selected publications
*
Troubat
Troubat is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France.
File:Troubat église vue depuis château comtes Comminges (3).jpg,
File:Plan de la grotte de Sainte Araille.png,
File:Entrée de la Grotte de Troubat - Vallé ...
, ''Souvenirs sur Champfleury et le Réalisme'' (Paris, 1905)
* Champfleury, ''The Faience Violin'' (New York, 1895)
References
Biography
* Lo Feudo, Michela
« Du journalisme à l’art populaire. Biographie intellectuelle de Jules Champfleury, polygraphe du XIXe siècle » in ''BEROSE - International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology'', Paris.
External links
*
*
* "Champfleury, Jules (1821-1889)" i
Bérose EncyclopaediaFinding aid to Jules Champfleury papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.*Resources related to research
BEROSE - International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology
Paris. (ISSN 2648-2770)
1821 births
1889 deaths
People from Laon
French art critics
19th-century French journalists
French male journalists
19th-century French novelists
French male novelists
19th-century French male writers
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