La garçonne

On 12 July 1922, the very day the French senate denied women the right to vote, the avant-garde novel La garçonne by Victor Margueritte was published. It became a huge bestseller- approximately 600,000 copies were sold- and it caused quite an uproar. A year after its publication, more than 150 articles about the novel had been published. In short: the book caused a scandal. The story's main character Monique dresses like a boy, sports a bobbed haircut, smokes cigarettes, uses drugs and has lesbian mistresses. The book was said to be pornographic, and its socio-political subject matter was ill received: equality between men and women. The tumult it raised was so big that Victor Margueritte was cast out by the Légion d'Honneur. He was 'de-knighted'.

Tomboys

The working title of this controversial novel was Toute nue ('Completely nude'), and it is therefore hardly surprising that Kees van Dongen, an artist fascinated by the female body, collaborated on an illustrated version of this work. He used the 'Pochoir' technique for the 28 colour images. This method, which was held in lower esteem as a stencil process ('procédé mécanique') than more traditional printing techniques (often referred to as 'procédés nobles') such as lithography, was chosen consciously by Van Dongen, because it allowed for the creation of sophisticated images and unusual colour progressions. It became a book of Art Deco illustrations. Van Dongen's images of slim, elegant women with short hair and large, almond-shaped eyes perfectly matched the tomboy Margueritte had described. The text and images both represent the archetypal image of women of the 1920s.

Ironically, the year after publication – 1926 – was to hold acclaim for Van Dongen: whereas the author has previously been 'de-knighted', the artist was to receive an honourable award from the Légion d'Honneur. While La garçonne had led to disgrace for Margueritte, for Van Dongen – whose work had been removed from exhibitions because of alleged obscenity – the book coincided with the official recognition of his artistry.

Bibliographical description

Decription: La garçonne / Victor Margueritte ; avec 28 hors texte de Van Dongen. - [Paris] : Flammarion, 1925 (cop. 1926). - 386 p. : ill. ; 25 cm

Printer: Lahure (Parijs) V. Establie (Parijs) (coloriste)

Edition: 778 copies

This copy: Number 145 of 636 on Arches

Bibliography: Bénézit 4-667/670 ; Monod 7765 ; Juffermans-JB4

Shelfmark: KW Koopm A 66

References

• Louis Chaumeil, Van Dongen: L’homme et l’artiste, la vie et l’oeuvre. Genève, Cailler, 1967
• Jan Juffermans, Kees van Dongen: Het grafische werk. Zwolle, Waanders, 2002
• Partick de Villepin, Victor Margueritte: La vie scandaleuse de l’auteur de la Garçonne. Paris, Bourin, 1991