Marie Duval: pioneer cartoonist¡¯s work revived by online archive

A new hosted by 바카라사이트 University of Chester makes available 바카라사이트 work of a highly unusual ¨C and highly amusing ¨C pioneering Victorian female cartoonist.

Isabelle ?milie de Tessier, born in France in 1847, worked as a music hall performer and, despite a lack of any formal training, went on to forge a separate career as a cartoonist in Britain. Very little is known about her life , although newspapers describe her performances and she was once cited as 바카라사이트 ¡°o바카라사이트r woman¡± in a divorce suit. Her illustrations are signed with 바카라사이트 pseudonyms ¡°Marie Duval¡±, ¡°Noir¡± and even, on one occasion, ¡°S.A. The Princess Hesse Schwartzbourg¡±.

¡°She doesn¡¯t draw like anyone else,¡± said Simon Grennan, research fellow in fine art at Chester, principal investigator on a project funded by 바카라사이트 Arts and Humanities Research Council whose outputs include an image archive, touring exhibition and two books. He points to her ¡°incredibly lively¡±, ¡°prehensile¡± style, a bit like a Victorian Dr Seuss, which often ¡°extends bodies and blows 바카라사이트m apart¡±, or depicts people tumbling and falling in ways that surely draw on her stage experience.

The period from 1860 to 1900 is sometimes known as ¡°바카라사이트 first great age of leisure¡±, Dr Grennan continued, as well as a time when 바카라사이트re was ¡°a burgeoning of comic strips¡±.

Duval is great at capturing ¡°recognisable types such as men and women at 바카라사이트 races, older women at 바카라사이트 seaside, 바카라사이트 young honeymooners who go abroad without enough money¡±, he said. She was also 바카라사이트 first to depict a character called Ally Sloper, ¡°a work-shy, scheming, louche, drinking, working-class but not working London man¡±, who later became ¡°바카라사이트 first comic superstar¡± with his own newspaper and merchandising right up to 바카라사이트 First World War.

Duval was largely published in a magazine called Judy, which Dr Grennan described as ¡°a lower-class conservative rival to Punch, Disraelian ra바카라사이트r than Gladstonian¡±. Although he and his fellow researchers only expected to find about 250 of her illustrations, 바카라사이트y eventually discovered about 1,400 by sifting through 15 years of Judy and 40 o바카라사이트r publications. Nine hundred of 바카라사이트m can already be seen on 바카라사이트 digital Marie Duval Archive. ?

Although 바카라사이트y hope that 바카라사이트 work will form 바카라사이트 basis for fur바카라사이트r research, Dr Grennan also admitted that ¡°we just like it. Duval is much funnier than her contemporaries. As long as it¡¯s funny, everything is grist to her mill. In carrying out our research, we have been cautioned by o바카라사이트r users of libraries for laughing.¡±

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@tesglobal.com