Description

The collection of Les Hommes D'Aujourd'hui was founded in September 1878 by André Gill and Félicien Champsaur. The journal was first published by Cinqualbre (until 1883), then by Léon Vanier after two years of interruption. The last publication appeared in 1899. André Breton posessed 27 numbers of the collection.

The revue was originally inspired by the successful journal, Le Bulletin de vote, published in collaboration with the journalist Maxime Rude which was a collection of illustrated biographies, promoting the republican candidats in the legislative elections of October 1877. The collection of Les Hommes d'aujourd'hui strays from militant politics; each number (containing 4 pages) is devoted to a different contemporary figure belonging to the world of arts, literature or science. A colorful portrait of the spotlight celebrity is on each cover, followed by three pages of text, citations from the author, entire poems or various notable facts about the author's work. The texts are playful, and at times written in jest, composed of contemporaneous and fantastic elements.  In number 335, Paul Verlaine is the author of the portrait of Charles Cros.

When Léon Vanier took over the publication in 1885, he put an end to the principal of a unique caracturist (André Gill et Henri Demare were the successive artists of the following portraits). Among the graphic artists that would join, would be Luque, alias Manuel Luque de Soria, artist of the caricature on the cover of n°335. The scene represented is described by Charles Cros in a well-known humoristic poem,

"The Thin Kipper" (Le Coffret de Santal, 1873)

It was a big white wall- naked, naked, naked,

Against the wall a ladder- high, high, high,

And, on the ground, a thin kipper - dry, dry, dry,

He came, holding in his hands, dirty, dirty, dirty,

A heavy hammer, a big nail - pointed, pointed, pointed,

A ball of string - big, big, big.

So he climbed up the ladder - high, high, high,

And hammered the sharp nail - tap, tap, tap,

At the very top of the great white wall- high, high, high.

He let go of the hammer - that fell, that fell, that fell,

Attaches the nail to the string - long, long, long,

And, at the end, the thin kipper - dry, dry, dry.

He goes down the ladder - high, high, high,

Takes it with the hammer - heavy, heavy, heavy,

And then, he takes off, to go away elsewhere - far, far, far.

And, since, the thin kipper - dry, dry, dry,

At the end of the string - long, long, long,

Very slowly balances - always, always, always.

I composed this story - simple, simple, simple,

To make people mad - serious, serious, serious,

And to make the children happy - little, little, little.

Bibliographical material	Breton Sale, lot 1107. Paris, Librarie Vanier, no date, In-4° soft cover.
ISSN	L 1147-677X
Issue	335
Date of publication	1878
Publication	first publication
Languages	French
Publisher	Librairie Vanier, Paris
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 1107
Keywords	Graphic Arts, Monographs, Reviews and Journals
Categories	Journals
Set	Journaux et revues, [Journal] Les Hommes d'aujourd'hui
Permanent link	https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100852970