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Les Hommes d'aujourd'hui, 434

n°434

Periodical

Author

Person cited Maurice Maeterlinck
Drawings by Charles Doudelet

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 review 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 including citations from the author, entire poems or various notable facts about the author's work. When Léon Vanier took over the publication in 1885, he would finalize the element of caracature for the series (André Gill and Henri Demare were the consecutive authors of the first portraits). Among the graphic artists that would join, would be Charles Doudelet who would illustrate a collection of Maurice Maeterlinck's work, Twelve Songs (1896). The same year, he signed the portrait on the cover of number 434 of Les Hommes d'aujourd'hui. The ornate facades and the tumultous sky fill the background of the image, echoing Maeterlinck's idea on the poet: "He is obliged to go out in real life, in the life of everyday [...]  As a poet, he must be persuaded that the universe is full" (From L'Oiseau Bleu).