Martin van Maële

An illustration by Martin van Maele: La Grande danse macabre des vifs

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Martin van Maele (born Maurice François Alfred Martin van Miële) (October 12, 1863- September 5, 1926) was a French illustrator for early 20th century literature. He is renowned for his work in the field of erotic literature. He was born in the commune of Boulogne sur Seine once an important industrial town near Paris, France.

Family relationships

His parents were Virginie Mathilde Jeanne Van Maele and Louis Alfred Martin (himself an engraver and later a teacher at the Beaux-Arts school in Geneva). His pseudonym of Martin van Maele is a combination of his mother's maiden name and his father's surname. He also sometimes used the pseudonym A. Van Troizem.

He married Marie Françoise Genet, who lived in Chantilly, Oise at the time of his death. They had no children. He had a brother, Philibert Genet, who lived in Lyon. He died on September 5, 1926 and is buried in the cemetery of Varennes-Jarcy.^[1]

Life and career

Little is known about the life of Martin van Maele. Van Maele worked at Brussels as well as Paris, and his best known work – consisting among other things of an illustrated edition of Paul Verlaine's poems – was published in small, secretive editions by publisher Charles Carrington. The prints are considered both humoristic and satirical, sometimes cynical.

Van Maele's career is said to have really began with his illustrations for H.G. Wells in Les Premiers Hommes dans la Lune (or The First Men in the Moon), published by Felix Juven in 1901. The title later became the classic 1902 sci-fi silent film called Le Voyage Dans La Lune, produced by Georges Méliès. Van Maele also illustrated Anatole France's Thais, published by Charles Carrington, also in 1901. The following year, and occasionally thereafter, Van Maele worked as an illustrator for the Felix Juven's French translations of the Sherlock Holmes series.

Bibliography

La Grande Danse macabre des vifs (1905)

Collection

• The Satyrical Drawings of Martin van Maële.

Drawings

• Anatole France, Thaïs, Charles Carrington, Paris, 1901.
• Wilhelm Reinhard (translated by Jean de Villiot), La flagellation des femmes en Allemagne, Charles Carrington, Paris, 1901. 20 drawings.
• Margaret Anson (translated by Jean de Villiot), Une société de flagellantes. Réminiscences et révélations d’une soubrette de grande maison..., Charles Carrington, Paris, 1902.
• Anatole France (translated by A. R. Allinson), The Well of Santa Clara (Le puits de Sainte Claire), Charles Carrington, Paris, 1903.
• Jean de Villiot, Dix-sept ans : étude sociale, Charles Carrington, Paris, 1905. Drawings.
• Apulée (translated by Jean de Montlyard), L'Âne d'or, Charles Carrington, Paris, 1905. 21 eaux-fortes. New edition by Jean de Bonnot, Paris, 1991.
• Paul Verlaine, La Trilogie érotique : Amies, Femmes, Hombres, Charles Carrington, Bruxelles, 1907. 15 drawings.
• Aimé Van Rod, Nos Belles flagellantes, Paris, 1907. 10 drawings.
• Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, Les Liaisons dangereuses, Jules Chevrel, Paris, 1908. 20 drawings.
• Jules Michelet, La Sorcière, Jules Chevrel, Paris, 1911. New edition by Jean de Bonnot, 1987.
• Edgar Allan Poe (translated by Charles Baudelaire, Dix contes, Librairie Dorbon-Ainé, Paris, 1912. 95 engravings by Eugène Dété.
• Denis Diderot, La Religieuse, Jules Chevrel, Paris 1916.
• Sadinet, Petites cousines : souvenirs érotiques d'un homme de qualité touchant les jolies petites cousines... les bonnes à tout faire... les femmes du monde et les belles filles de province, À la folie du jour (Jean Fort), 1919. Drawings attributed to Van Maele.
• Claude de Saint-Hieble, L'Instrument des apothécaires, Jean Fort, coll. « Les Amis du bon vieux temps », Paris, 1920.
• Edmond Haraucourt, La Légende des sexes, Au Clos Bruneau, Paris, 1921. 12 gravings.
• François Béroalde de Verville, Le Moyen de parvenir, Jean Fort, Paris, 1921. 18 coloured drawings and 65 small drawings.
• Pierre Fély, Les Princesses de Cythère, chronique libertine de l'histoire., Jean Fort, coll. « Les Amis du bon vieux temps », Paris, 1922.
• Charles Sorel, L'Histoire comique de Francion. En laquelle sont découvertes les plus subtiles finesses et trompeuses inventions tant des hommes que des femmes de toutes sortes de conditions et d’âges., Jean Fort, Paris, 1925. 17 drawings and 16 compositions.
• Pierre de Jusange, La Comtesse au fouet, Jean Fort, Paris, 1926. 7 drawings.
• Docteur Gastien Fowler, Maison des flagellations, Jean Fort, Collection des Orties Blanches, Paris, 1926.
• Pierre l'Arétin, Dialogues, Jean Fort, 1927. 66 drawings and 10 drawings. Van Maele died while the drawings were being made, so some are by Luc Lafnet.
• Ovide, Les amours ; L'art d'aimer ; Les Héroïdes ; Les remèdes d'amour ; Les cosmétiques, Jean de Bonnot, Paris, 2000.
• Conan Doyle, Aventures Extraordinaires, 15 drawings, Librairie Félix Juven, Paris, 1902.

Others

• Martin Van Maele, La Grande Danse macabre des vifs, Charles Carrington, 1905. 40 drawings. New edition by Déesse, Nanterre, 1980.
• Martin Van Maele, The satyrical drawings of Martin van Maele, Cythera Press, New York, 1970.

Flèches de plomb, suite de dix eaux-fortes dédiées à la Comtesse Dorothée de S. par son très humble et très obéissant serviteur. S.l.n.d. ( Paris, c. 1910) Cauchemar d'un nouveau riche, Edition chez Mrs les Mercantis Généraux, petit in-folio( 25,4 X 18,5), en dfeuilles , couverture factice rempliée. Suite de 11 gravures en noir dont une couverture de Martin Van Maele. Les gravures sont tirées sur papier vergé d'Arches, numérotées avec un texte qui s'enchaine d'une planche à l'autre. Cette suite est une des plus belles exécutées par l'artiste.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Martin van Maële

• History of Art: Erotica in Art - Martin van Maele