Rodolphe Töpffer

Rodolphe Töpffer (

Paris-educated, Töpffer worked as a schoolteacher at a boarding school,[4] where he entertained students with his caricatures. In 1837, he published Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois (published in the United States in 1842 as The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck).^[5] Each page of the book had one to six captioned cartoon panels, much like modern comics. Töpffer published several more of these books, and wrote theoretical essays on the form.

Biography

Töpffer was born on 12 pluviôse of the seventh year of the French Republican calendar at ten hours after noon (« dix heures après midi »),^[6] that is on 31 January 1799, in Geneva, Léman, France. His father Wolfgang-Adam Töpffer was a painter and occasional caricaturist.^[7] His grandfather, Georg-Christoph, a master tailor, had come from Franconia and held a sock factory in Geneva.^[8] Töpffer was educated in Paris from 1819 to 1820, then returned to Geneva and became a school teacher. By 1823, he established his own boarding school for boys. In 1832, he was appointed Professor of Literature at the University of Geneva.^[9]

Relatively successful in his profession, Töpffer gained fame from activities he pursued in his spare time. He painted local landscapes in a style considered influenced by contemporary Romanticism. He wrote short stories and entertained his students by drawing caricatures. He collected these caricatures in books; the first of them, Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois (The Story of Mr. Wooden Head), was completed by 1827 but not published until 1837. It was 30 pages, each containing one to six captioned panels. It was translated and republished in the United States in 1842 as The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck. The stories were reproduced by autography, a variation of lithography that allowed him to draw on specially prepared paper with a pen. The process allowed for a loose line, and was quicker and freer than the more common engraving process.

Publications

The comedic story was not originally intended for publication, but Töpffer continued to create others in his spare time to entertain his acquaintances. Notable among them was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who in 1831 persuaded Töpffer to publish his stories.^[10][11] Seven of them were eventually published in newspaper form across Europe, but Goethe would not live to see them.

• Histoire de Mr. Jabot – created 1831, first published 1833. It features the adventures of a middle class dandy who attempts to enter the contemporary upper class.
• Monsieur Crépin – first published in 1837. It features the adventures of a father who employs a series of
  eccentricities
  .
• Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois – created 1827, first published 1837. The above-mentioned story.
• Monsieur Pencil – created 1831, first published 1840. An escalating series of events beginning with an artist losing his sketch to the blowing wind and almost resulting in a global war.
• Histoire d'Albert – first published in 1845. The adventures of an inexperienced young man in search of a career. After many attempts he ends up as a
  radical ideas. The panels show the erection of barricades and crowds singing La Marseillaise.^[12]
• Histoire de Monsieur Cryptogame – first published in 1845. The story of a
  lepidopterist
  who goes to great lengths to replace his current lover with a more suitable one.
• Le Docteur Festus (or Voyages et aventures du Docteur Festus) – created 1831, first published 1846. A scientist wanders the world, offering his assistance. He is blissfully unaware that disaster marks his path.

The University Press of Mississippi published an English translation of his full-length stories as well as previously unpublished works in 2007.

Töpffer is considered alternatively the father or at least an important precursor to the modern art form of comics. He is also considered to be an influence on younger comics artists such as Wilhelm Busch (15 April 1832 – 9 January 1908), creator of Max and Moritz.^{[citation needed]}

Child art

Töpffer wrote two chapters on child art and child creativity in his book Reflections et menus propos d'un peintre genevois (1848), which was published after his death. He wrote that children often displayed greater creativity than trained artists, whose creativity was often overshadowed by their technical skill.^[13]

See also

• Picture story

Notes

References

• Kunzle, David (2007). Father of the Comic Strip: Rodolphe Töpffer. University Press of Mississippi.
  ISBN 978-1-57806-947-7
  .
• Wilson, Brent (2004). "14: Child Art After Modernism: Visual Culture and New Narratives". In Eisner, Elliot W.; Day, Michael D. (eds.). Handbook of Research and Policy in Art Education. Routledge. pp. 299–328.
  ISBN 978-0-8058-4972-1
  .
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
  Coolidge, William Augustus Brevoort (1911). "Töpffer, Rodolphe". Encyclopædia Britannica
  . Vol. 27 (11th ed.). pp. 49–50.

External links

• Rodolphe Töpffer, in the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rodolphe Töpffer.

American Cyclopædia article about Rodolphe Töpffer

.

• An online version of his first illustrated story, Les Amours de Monsieur Vieux-Bois, in manuscript form
• Pictures and texts of Voyages en zigzag, ou excursions d'un pensionnat en vacances dans les cantons suisses et sur le revers italien des Alpes by Rodolphe Töpffer can be found in the database VIATIMAGES.
• The story Histoire d'Albert as PDF-file
• Published version of the above story
• A critical biography of Töpffer
• The complete comics of Töpffer and first English translation