French

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.

Fairy tale illustrations of Edmund Dulac

"The Snow Queen Flies through the Winter's Night" (image from Visual Melt)

"The Snow Queen Flies through the Winter's Night" (image from Visual Melt)

"The Haunted Palace" from The Bells and Other Poems (image from Visual Melt, title from Aeron Alfrey)

"The Haunted Palace" from The Bells and Other Poems (image from Visual Melt, title from Aeron Alfrey)

"The Palace of the Dragon King" from Fairy Tales of the Allied Nations (image from Visual Melt)

"The Palace of the Dragon King" from Fairy Tales of the Allied Nations (image from Visual Melt)

"The Merman King" from The Little Mermaid (image and title from wikiart.org)

"The Merman King" from The Little Mermaid (image and title from wikiart.org)

"The Fisherman" from The Nightingale (image from Visual Melt, title from wikiart.org)

"The Fisherman" from The Nightingale (image from Visual Melt, title from wikiart.org)

"The Bright Liquid" (image from Visual Melt, title from wikiart.org)

"The Bright Liquid" (image from Visual Melt, title from wikiart.org)

Edmund Dulac (1882–1953) was born in Toulouse, France, but began his career as an illustrator after moving to London around 1904 (HRC). His lush images combine elements from multiple art movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially the fluid, organic forms of Art Nouveau and the asymmetrical, surprising compositional structures of Japanese printmaking.