Lot n° 25
Estimation :
400 - 600
EUR
Jean Auscher (1896-1950) - Lot 25
Jean Auscher (1896-1950)
Essay for "Les Amertumes", poems by André Haguenauer, circa 1925
Etching 6.8 x 4.5 cm. with the frame
Signed by thumbprint, at the bottom right of the bowl
34 x 27 cm.
Annotated, in pencil, bottom left of the bowl: Essay
Son of Paul Auscher (1866-1932), the Art Nouveau architect known for his work in the service of Félix Pottin, Jean, a student of the Decorative Arts, decorated officer during the First World War, is one of the black angels of the world of illustration, in the decadent Paris of the "Roaring Twenties".
His life and career, long forgotten, were recently rediscovered by the Parisian bookseller Alexis Chevalier, who devoted a catalogue to it in 2016, following the study of a large collection of his works.
Jean Auscher began his activities as an illustrator in 1924, initially collaborating with the satirical magazines Fantasio (1926) and Le Rire (1927-1928). Later, he favoured literary illustration with collaborations with André Haguenauer, Alfred Machard, and Irène Nemirovsky. In addition to participating in exhibitions (Galerie George Petit, Salon d'Automne, Salon du bibliophile de Berlin, Salon des Tuileries, etc.), he self-published three collections of social criticism that earned him the esteem of an informed public: Le Bacara (1926 - on the world of gambling houses, with a preface by Jules Romains), Têtes d'affiches (1927 - on the world of entertainment), and La faune des Dancings (1928 - on the world of nightlife).
His style is harsh, morbid, hard-hitting, nightmarish, burlesque, and brutally describes a world of "bad morals" (André Warnod) with a "sort of regret at having to describe such repulsive objects, a secret compassion towards these degenerates, victims of confused heredity and seeking in the exercise or performance of dance a momentary oblivion rather than perhaps a satisfaction of the troubled desires that obsess them" (Francis de Miomandre).
With Les Amertumes, in 1925, Auscher signed hi
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