Victor Lenepveu - Musée des Horreurs - Dreyfus Affaire

Historical Poster – Victor Lenepveu for Le Petit Journal (backed)

Mars/April 1900 – Original color lithograph by Impr.-Gérant Lenepveu, Paris (58 rue Dulong) – 65 x 50 cm

This satirical poster, from the series 'Museum of Horrors' (No 24: 'Coquin'), depicts an anthropomorphic caricature of a starched and mustached monkey polishing its claws in a basin while wearing the Legion of Honor, symbolizing vanity and corruption. Surrounded by theatrical curtains, it targets Isidore-René Jacob (known as Paquin), a Parisian Jewish tailor and moderate Dreyfusard, accused of venality and occult influence over fashion and politics. Signed 'V. Lenepveu' (Victor Lenepveu, 1865-1947, anti-Dreyfusard caricaturist trained at the École des Beaux-Arts), this work is part of the propaganda campaign of the conservative newspaper Le Petit Journal, directed by Paul Dupuy.
Published in spring 1900, the series of 52 posters (plus a frontispiece and a cover) ridicules the supporters of Alfred Dreyfus during the Rennes trial (August 1899 - December 1899), at the heart of the Dreyfus Affair (1894-1906). This scandal divided France: the army, the Catholic Church, and the nationalists (supported by Édouard Drumont through La Libre Parole) against the republicans, intellectuals (Émile Zola with 'J’accuse…!' in 1898, Georges Clemenceau), and assimilated Jews demanding revision for antisemitic treason.

The 'Museum of Horrors' – an irony on curiosity cabinets – recycles antisemitic stereotypes of the 'Jew monkey' (inherited from Daumier and Cham), amplifying state hatred: Paquin, founder of the fashion house Paquin (1891), is depicted as a scheming manipulator, an allegory of anti-Masonry and anti-Dreyfusism.

Sold in a complete portfolio (2,000 drawings for 40 F) at the newspaper's sales office (10 rue du Croissant, Paris), the circulation reaches 100,000 copies, financed by nationalist subscriptions. Historically, this series influenced public opinion up to Dreyfus's partial pardon (September 1899) and his rehabilitation (1906), documenting the societal divide of the Belle Époque and the weaponization of caricature in the Third Republic, alongside pro-Dreyfus works such as those by Gill or Forain.

Exhibited today at the mahJ (Museum of Jewish Art and History) as a testimony of anti-Semitism, it illustrates the transition towards pre-1914 tensions.

A rare object in French graphic and political history, codified by collectors of militant posters and Dreyfusian epistemology. Price on request – Sensitive piece for specialized collections.

Images are part of the description. Delivery to a relay point.