EXHIBITION: Sem, Gigi, and CaricaturePresented by the Gorman Rare Art Book Collection.  Highlig

EXHIBITION: Sem, Gigi, and CaricaturePresented by the Gorman Rare Art Book Collection.  Highlighting our recent acquisition, Sem au Bois.Excerpt from Exhibition Essay by Nikki Otten, Art History PhD student and co-curator:Sem revisited the subject of his first Parisian success in the Sem au Bois scroll. He drew the fashionable elite of France (and their laughable hangers-on) en route to Longchamp. The races were social events where central members of society were expected to put in an appearance. Sem adopted this obligatory parade down the Bois de Boulogne as an opportunity to gently mock the celebrities of his day, caricaturing members of the aristocracy, artists, politicians and socialites. Although the individuals were not identified in the chromolithograph, a weekly newspaper, L’Illustration, published a complete list of names in its October 5, 1907 issue. The names have also been penciled in on the Gorman Rare Art Book Collection’s copy of the scroll, possibly by a previous owner who transferred the list from L’Illustration.This scroll also contains one carriage that is not included in the image reproduced in L’Illustration. Colette, the author of Gigi, is riding in a coach driven by her husband, Willy (Henry Gauthier-Villars). Colette is seated next to her mistress, the Marquise Mathilde de Morny. Missy, as she was known, was notorious for dressing in men’s clothing and seducing a number of women. The press assiduously documented her affair with Colette, and the pair roused a scandal when they kissed onstage as part of a pantomime production at the Moulin Rouge. -- source link
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