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Public and Private Life of Animals, by J. J. Grandville, ‘un rat d’église’,
£220 eachPublic and Private Life of Animals, by J. J. Grandville, ‘un rat d’église’,
First published in France, these prints are based on the drawings of the famed caricaturist J. J. Grandville. Born Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard, Gradville; he fought on the barricades during the revolution of 1830 which dethroned Charles X, the last Bourban king. It was during this period that his cartoons appeared in two of the most famous satirical journals of the time; Le Charivari and Le Caricature, but in 1835 these publications were suppressed by the government of Louis-Philippe. This event extinguished his income and means of political expression and forced him to start making a living by book illustration. The ‘Public and Private Life of Animals’ allowed him to criticise society and its effect on individuals through one of the oldest narrative types; the animal fable. His caricaturist’s skills combined the human and animal characteristics giving him a vehicle of expression as to what was not permissible in ‘Society’ but was perfectly acceptable when the material was presented as humorous or satirical.£220 each -
Waterloo Bridge,
£150Waterloo Bridge,
Hand colured and engraved, framed and mounted print depicting John Rennie's Waterloo Bridge by the artist and engraver John Shury after a painting by W.G. Moss.£150 -
Tchokwe Pwo mask,
£165Tchokwe Pwo mask,
The Pwo is a classic Chokwe mask genre that honours their founding female ancestries as guardians of fertility and procreation. Chokwe masks were made and worn by men, often performed during the celebrations that mark a completion of initiation into adulthood and with means to honour women who had survived the difficulty of childbirth. The occasion is also said to mark the dissolution of intimate bonds between mothers and their sons, which may be represented through the tear carvings and motifs seen on the face. Further, facial scarification as seen on this mask would have been used to make the person less desirable to the spirit of death, and in women specifically would mark the birth of a baby boy.£165