Léon Choubrac
Léon Choubrac (17 November 1847 – 5 April 1885), who sometimes signed his drawings with Hope, was a French poster designer and illustrator based in Paris. The Choubrac brothers came very soon to the poster, practicing since 1875 the modern treatment of colors and typography, associated with images thanks to chromolithography. In the early 1870s, the Choubrac brothers and Jules Chéret (known as "the father of the modern poster") reduced the cost of colour lithography introducing technical advances.
Léon Choubrac
Léon Choubrac ((1847-1885) · Bibliothèque nationale de France · Public domain
- Name
- Léon Choubrac
- Born
- 17 November 1847
- Died
- 5 April 1885
- Birthplace
- Paris, France
- Occupation
- Painter, illustrator, draughtsman and poster artist
- Nationality
- France
- Languages
- French
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Documentary summary
Léon Choubrac (17 November 1847 – 5 April 1885), who sometimes signed his drawings with Hope, was a French poster designer and illustrator based in Paris. The Choubrac brothers came very soon to the poster, practicing since 1875 the modern treatment of colors and typography, associated with images thanks to chromolithography. In the early 1870s, the Choubrac brothers and Jules Chéret (known as "the father of the modern poster") reduced the cost of colour lithography introducing technical advances.
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wikidata · Q15407071 · wikipedia · Léon Choubrac
In this article
Biography
Biography
Additionally, in 1881 restrictions on bill-posting (affichage) were lifted and eased state control of the media in France. In 1884, the Paris city council started to rent out surfaces belonging to the municipality, paving the way for a rapid increase in the production and distribution of advertising posters. Posters with clear colours and dashing images appeared all over town during the vibrant spirit of the Belle Époque. Choubrac drew some posters that higher authorities seized or torn down, amongst others one that showed a woman tortured in the presence of the Pope, advertising a book by Léo Taxil and Karl Milo, Les Maîtresses du Pape (The Pope's Mistresses) (1884). Another poster, The secret loves of Pius IX, showed the portrait of Pope Pius IX below a series of portraits with heads of young women. The censor made him add a beard to the head of the Pope to disguise it. The poster nevertheless caused a scandal and was torn down by order of the French Minister of the Interior François Allain-Targé. Léon and Alfred created the Ateliers Choubrac. Choubrac illustrated several works by Emile Zola. Although Leon died young at the age of 37 in 1885, his brother Alfred went on to produce an impressive number of posters for Parisian entertainers, theatres, businesses and various commercial products. The poster collector Ernest Maindron, who wrote the first essay about the illustrated poster in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts in 1884, and later published the first book on the subject (Les Affiches Illustrees) in 1886, mentioned the Choubrac brothers, along with and Chéret, among the pioneers of the illustrated poster.
Lithographic poster Crème Liebig - Goutez-moi ça! designed by Léon Choubrac, Paris, Imprimerie E. Lévy
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Base Flora id. # UNIMARC:80930
Auteur(s): Choubrac, Léon (dit Hope) (17–11–1847 - 05–05–1885), dessinateur Imprimerie Franc., imprimeur Date de production: Entre 1881 et 1889 Datation en siècle: 19e siècle Type(s) d'objet(s): Arts graphiques, Estampe Dénomination(s): Affiche Matériaux et techniques: Lithographie Dimensions -
Choubrac, Léon (dit Hope) (17–11–1847 - 05–05–1885), dessinateur
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Léon Choubrac • Born — 17 November 1847 • Died — 5 April 1885 • Birthplace — Paris, France • Place of death — Paris, France • Occupation — Painter, illustrator, draughtsman and poster artist
Selected works
Selected works
• Illustration — Woman tortured in the presence of the Pope, advertising a book by Léo Taxil and Karl Milo, Les Maîtresses du Pape (The Pope's Mistresses) (1884) • Illustration — Poster for Alcazar d'Hiver (1882) • Illustration — Advertising poster of Crème Liebig • Illustration — Advertising poster for a Panorama about the Paris Commune (1883)
Identity
Identity
Léon Choubrac is recorded as poster artist, designer, painter, illustrator and draftsperson.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1847
Léon Choubrac born at 3rd arrondissement of Paris.
1885
Léon Choubrac died at 18th arrondissement of Paris.
Places
Named by the record
Places
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3rd arrondissement of Paris.
Birth place
18th arrondissement of Paris.
Death place
Literature
Scholarly footprint
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Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Beraldi, Les graveurs du 19e siècle, p.14
- 2.Verhagen, The poster in Fin-de-Siècle Paris, p. 107
- 3.Carter, Karen L. (2010). Unfit for public display: female sexuality and the censorship of fin‐de‐siècle publicity posters, Early Popular Visual Culture, 8:2, 107-124
- 4.Beraldi, Les graveurs du 19e siècle, p.16
- 5.Ateliers Choubrac, Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF)
- 6.La Lanterne, 8 April 1885
- 7.Maindron, Les affiches Illustrées (1886–1895), p. 51-55
- 8.Hiatt, Picture Posters, Chapter 5
- 9.Maindron, Les affiches Illustrées (1886-1895), p.23; 51-55
Bibliography printed in the source article · 4
- Beraldi, Henri (1886). Les graveurs du 19e siècle; guide de l'amateur d'estampes modernes, Paris: L. Conquet
- Hiatt, Charles (1896). Picture Posters, London/New York: George Bell & Sons, MacMillan & Co.
- Maindron, Ernest (1896). Les affiches Illustrées (1886-1895), Paris: G. Boudet
- Verhagen, Marcus, The poster in Fin-de-Siècle Paris: "That Mobile and Degenerate Art", in: Charney, Leo & Vanessa R. Schwartz (eds.) (1995). Cinema and the Invention of Modern Life, Berkeley (CA): University of California Press,
References
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Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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