Collection of law books, illustrated by Joseph Hémard.
New arrival
For 16 years, Trudi Noordermeer acted as the beloved director of the university library and she retired on the 13th of September 2022 with a festive retirement celebration. The day started off with guided tours of the library and in the afternoon a symposium was held with international speakers. One of those speakers was the American lawyer and book collector Farley P. Katz. He gave an impressive lecture that ended in the surprise donation of an even more impressive gift to the library in honour of Trudi’s retirement. This collection of law books was to be kept at the Special Collections.
Hémard in a nutshell
Joseph Hémard (°02/08/1880 - ✝09/08/1961) was one of the most remarkable French draftsman of his generation. His drawings, which are always characterized by his sense of humour, have not lost their power even today.
Hémard’s artistic career started in the 20th century where he sold his drawings to various magazines, like Les Hommes du Jour, Le Pêle-Mêle and Le Bon Vivant. In 1940, Hémard published his own comic book: Le Célèbre Coucouraille et le Capitaine La Pistole. However, Hémard was known most well-known for his book illustrations: Balzac’s D’un paouvre qui avoyt nom le vieux par chemins (1914), Molière’s La Malade Imaginaire (1920), Rabelais’s Gargantua et Pantagruel (1922), Diderot’s Jaques Le Fataliste (1923), the tales and fables of La Fontaine (1930 and 1937) and Voltaire’s Zadig ou la Destinée (1954).
At the same time, Hémard also produced humorous illustrations for technical reference works. His drawings managed to transform these dry texts into funny treasures. For example, multiple law books were thusly illustrated by Hémard: Le Code Civil (1925), Le Code Pénal (ca. 1940 – precise date unknown) and Le Code Général des Impôts Directs et Taxes Assimilées (1944). Because of Farley P. Katz’s generous donation, we now hold a copy of these final three works in our collection.
The illustrations in these books were printed in colour, using the so-called pochoir method, which is a method using cut out stencils that allow for the repeated replication of these motifs. The pochoir method is known for producing illustrations with intense coloration and a clear and fresh look and the method was most popular during the French Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements in the early 20th century.
Hémard’s artistic accomplishments reached further: he also designed costumes and decors for operas and decorations for restaurants and cafés. He wrote theatre texts for the Guignol theatre under the leadership of Charles Genty in Paris. He even made illustrations for the national French lottery and collaborated on Lortac’s animated movies. He was also a member of the Parisian Humourist’s Association, of which he became chairman in 1918.