Artist: Auguste Roubille (1872-1955)
Title: Advertisement for the printer Atlas, September 1920
Technique and support: Printing on brown paper
Special features of the work: Monogrammed print in the plate
Size: 26cm x 18cm
Condition: Good
Provenance: Atelier Roubille, the invoice engages the responsibility of the gallery as to the authenticity of the work.
Why Bertrand loves the artist: Auguste Roubille is a painter-illustrator with whom I like to explore the Belle Époque (1890-1914) and the interwar period. I like this sweet melancholy in which the artist sometimes immerses us with his symbolist colors. I particularly appreciate his landscapes, the atmosphere of which reminds me of Edward Hooper.
Why Nathan loves the artist: For me, Auguste Roubille is a perfect example of WD Art Gallery's mission to share our passion for discovery. I had never heard of Roubille, but as we worked to discover his brilliant career, I realized what an important artist he is: an avant-garde satirist, an Art Nouveau painter by excellence, a political supporter of the anarchists of the end of the 19th century, a futuristic illustrator for Werner motorcycle advertisements… And all this with a sharp eye and an extraordinary quality of drawing.
Expert's comment: Like Alphonse MUCHA, Henri de TOULOUSE LAUTREC or Théophile STEILEN, Auguste Jean-Baptiste ROUBILLE is a gifted and versatile artist. An avant-garde artist, he was one of the pioneers of Art Nouveau who during the 1890s rebelled against the formalities and constraints of academic painting. Like many talented artists of the Belle Epoque, he contributed as an illustrator to the great cultural upheavals. It was the illustrator-painters like Felix VALLOTON, Pierre BONNARD, Henri de TOULOUSE LAUTREC and of course Auguste ROUBILLE who were the first to use symbols and synthesis to show their anti-academism but also to escape the reality of an era. where the technical progress celebrated during the universal exhibitions of 1889 and 1900 is dazzling. These artists will show real audacity by simplifying the forms and using flat colors with sometimes violent contrasts. They will also show in their works a real sensitivity thus magnifying what is hidden behind appearances. As a result, art historians see in these illustrators the precursors of symbolism, of the Nabis but also of Japonism. Despite the success of his watercolors and gouaches at the Salon des Indépendants, Auguste Roubille will keep most of his artistic production for himself, which is not linked to his work as an illustrator (mainly caricatures and satires). This allows us today to offer you a hundred works from his personal collection and which constitutes for us a real discovery that we are delighted to be able to share. His works are imbued with an incredible sensitivity (especially his city and countryside landscapes). His watercolors on fauna and flora are incredibly realistic and show the quality of the draftsman. As for caricature and satire, the artist excels in this field which will absorb all his energy and which will make him famous. Auguste Roubille is a witness of his time, he will draw life during the Belle Epoque and the interwar period with his elegant women, his lovers and his cars. Successively influenced by the Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements, the artist will also draw some decoration projects.
Biography: Auguste Roubille is a painter, draftsman and poster artist. A talented illustrator, he particularly excelled in caricature and satire throughout his career. He began as a press cartoonist for the Courrier français and the Temps nouvelles in 1897. He signed A. Roubille either with a monogram in the shape of a face formed from the letters A and R or quite simply with the letters AR. He contributes to most of the humorous newspapers (He will also be the poster for the humorists' lounge): Le Rire, Le Sourire, Le cri de Paris, Cocorico, La Baïonnette Le Canard sauvage, L'assiette au beurre. He will perform all the covers of the satirical magazine Fantasio. As a decorator, he notably painted the frieze of the Maison du rire at the Universal Exhibition of 1900 and a series of panels for the café d'Harcourt (rue Champollion), as well as furniture. Among his posters are Demaria frères Cameras, La Motocyclette, Werner, Spratt's, Patent, High, Life, Tailor, Le Bourgeon, Scala en bombe!, Au Smart Carmen, La Maison du Rire`…Finally, he illustrates books such as: Écho et Narcisse by Paul Feuillâtre, L'Esprit français by Jules Renard with Ricardo Florès, Grandgoujon by René Benjamin, La Bataille by Claude Farrère (Fayard, The Book of Tomorrow, 1925), La chastelaine by Vergi (published by Leon Pichon in 1920).
This biography has been drawn up by us following our expertise and the various reference books on the artist in our possession, any copy is therefore prohibited.
