Abel Faivre (1867-1945)

Abel Faivre studied for three years[at the École des beaux-arts de Lyon, then at the École des beaux-arts de Paris and at the Académie Julian with Jules Lefebvre and Benjamin-Constant. He was a 3rd class medalist at the 1894 Universal Exhibition in Antwerp, then an honorary medalist at the Universal Exhibition in Lyon the same year, then exhibited at the salon of the Société nationale des beaux-arts from 1903. He lived and worked in Paris at 42 rue Pierre-Fontaine and in Gassin then La Croix-Valmer (Var), where a boulevard now bears his name. After having delivered a large number of satirical drawings to Le Sourire and L'Assiette au Beurre, he became particularly famous for his propaganda posters aimed at supporting the French war effort (1914-1918), including that of the national loan French from 1918 where it represents William II, head lowered and holding a broken sword, chased by the flags of the Allied Powers. He also worked, among others, for the humorous newspaper Le Rire – renamed Le Rire rouge during the war –, La Baïonnette, and Le Figaro illustrated3. His caricatures, in particular kept at the Jean-Jaurés museum in Castres4, are characterized by a sometimes ribald, unapologetic humor, where nudity is often exposed, which sometimes earned him warnings from censorship committees. His very singular trait was appreciated by Alphonse Allais. He was a founding member in 1907 of the committee of the Salon des humouristes. Period frame