J. J. Grandville was the pseudonym of  French caricaturist and illustrator Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard. His early carreer consisted of regular contributions of highly satirical political caricatures for a series of Parisian periodicals. He garnered a great deal of popularity for this work but following the reintroduction of censorship of caricatures in France in 1835, he pursued a notable career as a book illustrator. He illustrated a number of standard works gaining a reputation as the premier illustrator of works such as Gullivers Travels and Robinson Crusoe. His fantastical ilustrations featured a wonderful variety of inanimate objects brought to life, mixed up animal creatures (which he refered to as Metamorphoses) , crazy characters and an imaginative creativity that predated and influenced the school of Surrealism.

It is the far reaching influence of his work which is of most interest. He influenced not only the surrealists as mentioned above but also political cartoonists, comic book illustrators and  fantasy artists. His work is known to have influenced not only the illustrator of the Alice in Wonderland tales John Tenniel but their author Lewis Carrol. Look closely at his work and you may also see something of his influence in the animated films of Walt Disney.

Alice in Wonderland anyone?

This picture brings to mind the Be Our Guest scene from Disneys Beauty & the Beast

Click on any of the images above to view them at full size. There are 175 of Grandville’s illustrations available online at the wonderful Visipix site HERE.