George du Maurier
George du Maurier was a notable French-born English illustrator and author, born in Paris in 1834. He was the grandson of a nobleman who fled to England during the French Revolution and grew up amidst the cultural contrasts of both Paris and London. Initially pursuing a career in science, du Maurier shifted his focus to art, eventually becoming an illustrator for prominent magazines like Punch and the Cornhill Magazine. His illustrations were significant not only for their artistic quality but also for their sociocultural commentary, particularly on the fashionable elite and the rise of the nouveau riche in Victorian society.
Du Maurier's literary career took off in the late 1880s when he began writing novels, encouraged by his friend Henry James. His most famous works include "Peter Ibbetson" and "Trilby," the latter featuring the iconic character Svengali, whose name has since entered popular culture. "Trilby" blends elements of bohemian life with melodrama and garnered significant acclaim in England. His final novel, "The Martian," explores themes of human perfection through extraterrestrial communication. Du Maurier's contributions to both literature and illustration have left a lasting impact, particularly in how they reflect and critique the social dynamics of his time.
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George du Maurier
French novelist and illustrator
- Born: March 6, 1834
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Died: October 8, 1896
- Place of death: London, England
Biography
The grandson of a Frenchman of noble family who had fled to England during the French Revolution, George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier (dew MOHR-ee-ay) was born in Paris in 1834, the son of a French father and an English mother. In his youth he oscillated between Paris and London; his early education was conducted in Paris between 1847 and 1851. In 1851 he went to London to study chemistry at the wish of his father, who wanted to make a scientist of him. He had little interest in science, however, and in 1856 went back to Paris to study art. He soon moved to Antwerp to continue his work. During his student days in Paris he had many of the experiences that he was later to use as literary material. At age twenty-three he lost the sight in his left eye, and with it his hopes of becoming a painter. {$S[A]Maurier, George du;Du Maurier, George}
In 1860 he returned to England to begin his work as an illustrator, first for Once a Week and then for Punch, whose staff he joined in 1864 on the death of John Leech. Gradually he brought about a change in the subject matter of Punch’s drawings. Previously the satire had been directed at the foibles of the middle class; now the object was the fashionable world, particularly the nouveaux riches and those of literary pretensions. It has often been noted that, in addition to their artistic merits, du Maurier’s drawings, because of his close attention to the details of clothes and furnishings, have genuine importance for the social historian. After working successfully for Punch, du Maurier became illustrator for the Cornhill Magazine. This connection gave him the opportunity to illustrate some of the foremost literary productions of the time.
In the late 1880’s, du Maurier’s friend Henry James urged him to try his hand at writing a novel. The result was Peter Ibbetson, first published in the American magazine Harper’s Magazine in 1891. Many of the scenes of the novel (which was made into an opera by Deems Taylor in 1931) were drawn from memories of his own childhood. For the same magazine he wrote the enormously popular Trilby, which was later dramatized and produced in London by Beerbohm Tree. For the background of this story he used the details of his student days in Paris, many of the characters being drawn, in whole or in part, from actual people. The book had great success in England, since poor Trilby’s better nature is developed through contact with the English characters. The novel presents a sentimentalized picture of bohemian life, and the plot is pure melodrama; yet in this novel, in the character of the strange and sinister Svengali, du Maurier created a character whose name has become part of the language, no mean achievement. His last novel, The Martian, while not as successful as the earlier works, is notable for its fantastical theme of human perfection achieved through communication with an extraterrestrial being.
Bibliography
Du Maurier, Daphne. The du Mauriers. Garden City, N.Y.: The Literary Guild of America, 1937. Family reminiscences.
Du Maurier, George. The Young George du Maurier: A Selection of His Letters, 1860-1867, edited by Daphne du Maurier. New York: Doubleday, 1952. Correspondence and reminiscences.
James, Henry. “Du Maurier and London Society.” In Partial Portraits. 1899. Reprint. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1970. The first serious and detailed analysis of du Maurier’s pictorial satire of society in Punch in an essay titled “The Art of Fiction.”
Kelly, Richard. The Art of George du Maurier. Brookfield, Vt.: Ashgate, 1995. Discusses du Maurier’s artistic achievement and contains 203 drawings, many of which were never previously reproduced.
Kelly, Richard. George du Maurier. Boston: Twayne, 1983. Examines du Maurier’s life, fiction, and drawings in considerable detail.
Ormond, Leonée. George du Maurier. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969. Biographical material.
Whitely, Derek Pepys. George du Maurier. New York: Pellegrina & Cudahi, 1948. Provides a brief account of his life and artwork; it also contains a checklist of books that he illustrated and reproduces several pencil studies published nowhere else.
Wood, T. Martin. George du Maurier, the Satirist of the Victorians: A Review of His Art and Personality. London: Chatto and Windus, 1913. A valuable treatment of du Maurier’s artwork before he joined the staff of Punch.