art.wikisort.org - Artist

Georges Goursat ((1863-11-23)23 November 1863[3] – (1934-11-26)26 November 1934[4]), known as Sem, was a French caricaturist famous during the Belle Époque.

Georges Goursat
Born	(1863-11-23)23 November 1863[1] Périgueux
Died	(1934-11-26)26 November 1934[2] Paris
Nationality	French
Other names	Sem
Occupation	artist
Known for	caricatures, posters

Life and works

Youth (1863–1900)

Georges Goursat was born and raised in an upper-middle-class family from Périgueux.[5] The wealth inherited from his father at the age of 21[6] allowed him to sustain a gilded youth.[7]

In 1888 he self-published his first three albums of caricatures in Périgueux, signing some as "SEM",[8] allegedly as a tribute[9] to Amédée de Noé who signed his caricatures for Le Monde illustré as "Cham".[10]

He settled in Bordeaux from 1890 to 1898.[11] During this period, he published more albums and his first press caricatures in La Petite Gironde[12] and discovered the work of Leonetto Cappiello.[13] His style matured, becoming both simpler and more precise.[14]

During the same period, he made trips to Paris. In 1891, he designed two posters printed in Jules Chéret's workshop for the singer Paulus.[13] He published his first caricatures of artists in L'Illustration (Albert Brasseur) and Le Rire (Paulus, Polin and Yvette Guilbert[i. 1]).[13]

Goursat lived in Marseille from 1898 to 1900,[15][i. 2] where he met Jean Lorrain who convinced him to live in Paris.[16]

Belle Époque (1900–1914)

Goursat arrived in Paris in March 1900 at the time of the Universal Exposition opening.[17]

He chose horse racing[i. 3] as a way to enter high society.[17] In June 1900 he self-published his new album Le Turf of caricatures of many prominent Parisian socialites, including Marquess Boni de Castellane, Prince Trubetskoy, Count Clermont-Tonnerre, Baron Alphonse, Gustave de Rothschild, and Polaire.[17] The album's success made him famous overnight.[18] In October 1900 he published the album Paris-Trouville with equal success. Goursat published nine other albums before 1913.[19]

In 1904, Goursat received the Légion d'honneur.[20] In 1909, he exhibited with the painter Auguste Roubille, first in Paris and then in Monte Carlo and London. The exhibit included a diorama composed of hundreds of wooden figurines "of all the merely Paris celebrities".[21]

World War I (1914–1918)

Goursat was not drafted in World War I as he was over 50 years old at the start of the war.[22] He nevertheless involved himself as a war correspondent for Le Journal.[22] Some of his rather "chauvinistic" articles had an "enormous impact".[23] Ten articles were published in 1917 in Un pékin sur le front. Two other articles were incorporated in the 1923 book La Ronde de Nuit.[24] In 1916 and 1918 Goursat published two albums of Croquis de Guerre (War Sketches) with a completely different style than his previous work.[23] He also designed war bond posters.[25]

Années Folles (1918–1934)

After the war, Goursat returned to the kind of caricatures that made him famous. In 1919, he published Le Grand Monde à l'envers (High Society Upside Down).[26] Around 1923, he published three albums under the general title of Le Nouveau Monde (transl. The New World).[27] In 1923, he became an officer of the Légion d'honneur.[28]

In 1929, he was severely impoverished by the economic crisis.[29] After a heart attack in 1933,[30] he died in 1934.[2]

Personalities caricatured by Goursat

Name, surname	Occupation	Image
Alexandrovich, Vladimir	Socialite
Annunzio, Gabriele d'	Writer
Astruc, Gabriel	Impresario
Balthy, Louise [fr]	Actress
Bennett, Gordon	Publisher
Blanc, Edmond	Politician
Blériot, Louis	Aviator
Boldini, Giovanni	Painter
Borbon, Alfonso de	King
Brasseur, Albert	Actor
Brieux, Eugène	Writer
Capel, Arthur "Boy"	Polo player
Cappiello, Leonetto	Poster artist
Capus, Alfred	Writer
Castellane, Boni de	Socialite
Chanel, Coco	Designer
Colette, Sidonie-Gabrielle	Writer
Croisset, Francis de	Dramatist
Deval, Marguerite	Singer
Donnay, Maurice	Dramatist
Doumer, Paul	President
Ephrussi, Maurice	Financier
Feydeau, Georges	Writer
Forain, Jean-Louis	Painter
Fursy, Henri	Variety singer
Gauthier-Villars, Henry	Writer
Guitry, Lucien	Actor
Guitry, Sacha	Actor
Guyon, Charles-Alexandre [fr]	Actor
Hahn, Reynaldo	Composer
Adien Hébrard [fr]	Journalist
Helleu, Paul	Painter
Hervieu, Paul	Dramatist
Humbert, Charles	Senator
Lambert, Charles de	Aviator
Lafitte, Pierre [fr]	Publisher
Latham, Hubert	Aviator
Lavallière, Ève	Actress
Letellier, Henri [fr]	Publisher
Lorrain, Jean	Writer
Massenet, Jules	Composer
Mendès, Catulle	Writer
Mérode, Cléo de	Dancer
Montesquiou, Robert de	Poet
Morand, Paul	Writer
Noailles, Anna de	Writer
Noailles, Emmanuel de	Diplomat
Pahlavi, Reza	Shah
Paquin, Jeanne	Designer
Pierpont Morgan, John	Financier
Poiré, Emmanuel (Caran d'Ache)	Cartoonist
Polaire	Actress
Porto-Riche, Georges de	Writer
Pougy, Liane de	Dancer
Puccini, Giacomo	Composer
Rostand, Edmond	Dramatist
Rostand, Maurice	Writer
Rougier, Henri	Aviator
Santos-Dumont, Alberto	Aviator
Sardou, Victorien	Dramatist
Vionnet, Madeleine	Designer
Wall, Berry	Socialite

References

Images

Bibliography

• Bonnelle, Madeleine; Meneret, Marie-José (1979). SEM (in French). Périgueux: Pierre Fanlac. ISBN 2-86577-144-X.
• Dini, Francesca (2006). Boldini, Helleu, Sem : protagonisti e miti della Belle Epoque (in Italian). Skira.

External links

• Website dedicated to Georges Goursat
• Goursat in L'Illustration
• Biography of Goursat
• Description of the diorama

На других языках

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- [en] Sem (artist)

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[fr] Sem (illustrateur)

Marie Joseph Georges Goursat dit Sem, né le 22 novembre 1863[1] à Périgueux et mort le 24 novembre 1934[2] à Paris, est un illustrateur, affichiste, caricaturiste, chroniqueur mondain, et écrivain français.

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[it] Sem (illustratore)

Sem, pseudonimo di Georges Goursat (Périgueux, 23 novembre 1863 – Parigi, 24 novembre 1934[1]), è stato un illustratore e scrittore francese.

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