Georges MÉLIÈS (Paris, 1861-1938). The Gendarme. Cartoon... Lot 29

Georges MÉLIÈS (Paris, 1861-1938). The Gendarme. Cartoon in ink heightened with coloured pencil, inscribed at the bottom "He has been lost a pelerine of young people on the beach. Reward to thisusse who will bring it back" and in a panel "Arreté - By decision of Mr. Mayor it is forbidden under penalty of fine to blow one's nose in the part included between the benches & the parapet" (pin holes, stains, wetnesses). Framed by "P. LIONIS" in Le Havre. Height. 35 cm - Width : 22 cm A pioneer in the use of effects and tricks in cinema, Georges Méliès pursued his first vocation throughout his career, drawing (and more particularly caricature). Forbidden by his father to study Fine Arts, he joined Gustave Moreau's studio and published satirical drawings in the newspaper La Griffe. His caricature work was all the more important and recognised as he devoted one of his first films to it, the "Dessinateur express" in 1896. Probably made around 1907 in Mers-Les-Bains, such a set is particularly rare on the market because of its coherence and the testimony of the drawing talent of the "enchanter of reality". The French film library has nearly seventy of his caricatures.