Ferdinand Bac (1859-1952) - Drawing in pastel, ink and charcoal on paper

Ferdinand Bac (1859-1952) Pastel drawing, ink and charcoal on paper. Portrait of Alphonse Karr. After the coup d'état of 1851, Alphonse Karr settled on the Côte d'Azur. He established himself in Saint-Raphaël where he built his house (the Maison Close) and became an essential figure in the town. It is largely due to his fame and writings that the small commune transformed into a highly sought-after seaside resort of the Belle Époque. Signed and dated 1888. Modern frame and under glass. Dimensions with frame: 38.5x32.5cm. Dimensions without frame: 21x16cm. Very good condition, with a stain of foxing above the left hand. Several works for sale, reduced shipping costs for combined purchases. *Ferdinand Bac, whose real name was Ferdinand-Sigismond Bach, was a French designer, caricaturist, writer, and landscape artist, born in 1859 in Stuttgart and died in 1952 in Menton. The illegitimate son of diplomat Karl Philipp von Karlsrühe, himself the son of a morganatic relationship with Prince Jérôme Bonaparte, Ferdinand Bac was the second cousin of Emperor Napoleon III. This discreet imperial connection opened the doors of European high society and exiled nobility to him early on, a social world that would nourish the entirety of his work. After a childhood in Germany, he settled in Paris in the 1870s and entered artistic circles thanks to his godfather, the famous novelist Arsène Houssaye. He began a brilliant career as an illustrator and became one of the pillars of the major satirical newspapers of the Belle Époque, such as La Vie Parisienne, Le Rire, and Le Figaro Illustré. His elegant style, often enhanced with coloured pencils and watercolour, humorously, ironically, and with a touch of nostalgia captures the fashionable actresses, dandies, bourgeois salons, and political figures.