The series of satirical lithographs we’re going to look at is ascribed to two famous printmakers Achille Devéria and Eugène Lepoittevin. Marijn’s already published an article on Devéria’s works and biography, so the current post is accompanied by biographic facts on Eugène Lepoittevin (1806-1870).
Fig. 1. Portrait of Eugène Lepoittevin by Nadar circa 1861-1869 (Wikipedia.org)
Called by Many Names
Lepoittevin was a French maritime painter and caricaturist. He was born in Paris in a family of Nicolas Potdevin, who moved to Paris from Normandy and became a chief cabinetmaker at the Palace of Versailles. The surname “Potdevin” went through many transformations: Poidevin, Poitevin, and then Lepoittevin. The supposed producer of diabolic engravings signed his works with lots of variations of his name: Eugène Le Poitevin, Eugène Lepoittevin, Eugène Le Poittevin, Édouard Le Poittevin, E. Lepoittevin.
Fig. 2. The Castaways (1839), Amiens , Picardy museum (Wikipedia.org)
Studies and Career
At the age of 20, Lepoittevin enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts. He was an avid traveler and prolific painter. His legacy consists of the depictions of landscapes and history paintings. From 1831, he was regularly exhibiting at the Paris Salon.
Fig. 3. Naval battle won in front of the island of Embro, 1346 (1849), Versailles , Museum of the History of France (Wikipedia.org)
The Legion of Honor
In 1843, Lepoittevin became a knight of the Legion of Honor, which is the highest French order of merit for military and civil merits founded by Bonaparte. Six years later, he was awarded Peintre de la Marine title (Painter of the Fleet), which was set up in 1830 to honor the maritime artists.
Fig. 4. The Fisherman’s Return, 1848 (britishmuseum.org)
The Devilments
Lepoittevin was also a productive caricaturist publishing in La Caricature. He is claimed to be an author of several albums of erotic lithographs depicting human and devil encounters involving a set of poses and devices, which makes these books close to Ungerer’s “Fornicon.” This topic predictably was of great popularity, so Lepoittevin was not the only artist who produced these “amoral” designs. In 1835, the album “Diabolico Foutro Manie” attributed to Achille Devéria was released. Eventually, opuses of Lepoittevin and Devéria got entangled. Designs signed with an LP monogram and thus clearly belonging to Lepoittevin are funny but not explicit. The erotic ones expectably are unsigned as well as those of Devéria. So, it’s hard to distinguish one from another, even for the editors of erotic anthologies.
Fig. 5. Lepoittevin’s book binding (blogspot.com)
Fig. 6. Lepoittevin’s lithograph with a monogram (blogspot.com)
