Chicago

The Frog Man of Jean-Joseph Carriès

Jean-Joseph Carriès (French), Frog Man (Le grenouillard), 1892, plaster. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

In 1878, the young sculptor Jean-Joseph Carriès (1855–1894) attended the Worlds Fair in Paris, where he first saw, and was deeply impacted by, Japanese art. Reverberations of that impact are clearly visible in Frog Man (1892), made over a decade later. The unusual sculpture not only balances realism with grotesquerie and whimsy, but resembles a giant netsuke—the small, wearable Japanese carvings typically made of wood, bone, or ivory—in style, subject matter (netsukes usually represent animals, people, or mythical creatures), and composition.

Frog Man is also emblematic of Carriès’ interest in using cheaper and “inferior” media like plaster and ceramic—associated with preliminary, disposable maquettes rather than finished works—as opposed to metals or marble. His use of less precious, easily altered media would have given him more freedom for experimentation and is likely directly related to the unusual playfulness and expression that, along with his ample skill, typifies his work.

A few years after Carriès’ death, the writer Octave Uzanne reminisced about his friend’s reaction to a large toad that had jumped between them as they walked along the quays of Paris late one night in 1882. Carriès scooped up the amphibian and rushed to gently examine it under a streetlight, marveling at the beauty of “these poor dreamers.” When he was done, “the little sculptor went down to the bank very close to the water to protect the big nocturnal amphibian from the passer-by [sic].”

Carriès appears to have maintained his love for toads, which were more commonly dismissed as pests or despised as symbols of death, until the end of his life. Frogs and toads, often combined with the features of other animals, are recurring motifs in his most fanciful sculpture, including not only Frog Man, but Frog with Rabbit Ears (1891) and Toad and Frog (between 1889 and 1894).

Jean-Joseph Carriès (French), Frog Man (Le grenouillard), 1892, plaster. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Jean-Joseph Carriès (French), Frog Man (Le grenouillard), 1892, plaster. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Jean-Joseph Carriès (French), Frog Man (Le grenouillard), 1892, plaster. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Jean-Joseph Carriès (French), Frog Man (Le grenouillard), 1892, plaster. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

background: Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (French), The Fisherman’s Family, 1887, oil on canvas. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Mannerism and the Northern Renaissance at the Art Institute of Chicago

Lucas Cranach the Elder (German), Portrait of Magdalena of Saxony, Wife of Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg, c. 1529, oil on panel. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Workshop of Dieric Bouts (Netherlandish), Mater Dolorosa (Sorrowing Virgin), 1480/1500, oil on panel. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Jan Sanders van Hemessen (Netherlandish), Judith, c. 1540, oil on panel. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Jean Hey, known as the Master of Moulins (French), Fragments from Christ Carrying the Cross: Saint John the Evangelist and Mourning Virgin, 1500/05, oil on panel. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen and Workshop (Netherlandish), The Adoration of the Christ Child, c. 1515, oil on panel. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Jacopo da Pontormo (Italian), Alessandro de’ Medici, 1534/35, oil on panel. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Antonio Rimpatta (Italian), The Holy Family with Four Saints and a Female Donor, c. 1510, oil on panel. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Master M.Z. (German), Aristotle and Phyllis, c. 1500, engraving on paper. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Jean Hey, known as the Master of Moulins (French), The Annunciation, 1490/95, oil on panel. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Quentin Massys (Netherlandish), Portrait of a Man with a Pink, 1500–10, oil on panel. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Attributed to Alessandro Allori (Italian), Francesco de’ Medici, c. 1560, oil on panel. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Workshop of Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen (Netherlandish), The Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist, c. 1520, oil on panel. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Agnolo Bronzino and workshop (Italian), Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist, c. 1530, oil on panel. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.