L'Apôtre Jean Journet partant pour la conquête de l'harmonie universelle

Details

GUSTAVE COURBET (1819-1877)
L'Apôtre Jean Journet partant pour la conquête de l'harmonie universelle
lithograph, 1850, on wove paper, without watermark, a rare surviving example of this song sheet, the artist's only print, published by de Vion, Paris, with small margins, in good condition
Image 240 x 170 mm.
Sheet 398 x 310 mm.

Provenance

Piasa, Paris, 17 April 2008, lot 160.
Acquired from the above by the present owner.

Literature

Beraldi 59

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

This rare lithograph depicts Jean Journet (1799-1861), a 19th-century secular evangelist who traveled throughout France and Belgium preaching on behalf of the Fourier movement, a form of utopian socialism that aspired to the creation of social harmony. This portrait of Journet is surrounded by verses intended to be sung by the reader as a moralizing call to change. Courbet’s use of the song sheet format, combining text with image is more commonly found in crude, popular woodcuts, and signals his solidarity with the movement and its popular roots. (See: Art Institute of Chicago https://www.artic.edu/artworks/36828/the-apostle-jean-journet)

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