"Les Acacias" SEM Folio (SOLD)

Suite of 6 double-plates each 14" x 41"The six prints that make up this album are consecutive and are intended, being added to each other, to form a decorative friezeGeorges Goursat (1863–1934), known as Sem, was a French caricaturist famous during the Belle Époque.Life and worksYouth (1863–1900)Georges Goursat was born and raised in an upper-middle-class family from Périgueux. The wealth inherited from his father at the age of 21 allowed him to sustain a gilded youth.In 1888 he self published in Périgueux his first three albums of caricatures, signing some as "SEM" (Figure, left), allegedly as a tribute to Amédée de Noé who signed his caricatures for Le Monde illustré as "Cham".From 1890 to 1898, he settled for a few years in Bordeaux. During this period, he published more albums and his first press caricatures in La Petite Gironde [fr] and discovered the work of Leonetto Cappiello. His style matured, becoming both simpler and more precise.During the same period, he made trips to Pari