Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Self In Multiple: The Lithographic Portraits Of L'Artiste (1832-34), Sean Delouche

Mid-America College Art Association Conference 2012 Digital Publications

Portraits, especially those outside the medium of oil-on-canvas, have been a neglected and often disparaged subject in nineteenth-century French art history, despite their overwhelming prevalence during the time period. This paper contributes to our understanding of the modern manifestation of the portrait by examining a suite of lithographic portraits of cultural celebrities that appeared in the newly established art journal L’Artiste during the July Monarchy (1830-1848), the constitutional regime long associated with both the social and political rise of the bourgeoisie as well as the development of an extensive commercial and celebrity culture. Executed in the sketchy and lively medium …