André Devambez - Vertigo of the imagination

André Devambez was born in Paris and grew up in the world of Maison Devambez, the family engraving and publishing business created by his father Édouard. He showed an early aptitude for drawing and quickly began academic studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He won the Prix de Rome which allowed him to perfect his training in the Medici City. On his return to Paris, he made Paris and its inhabitants one of his favorite subjects. His representations of the capital with their bird's eye view testify to his taste for innovative framing. His views could, it was said, give vertigo! He was also passionate about modern inventions, notably the automobile, double-decker buses, airships and especially airplanes. He regularly visited airfields and as an attentive observer depicted them in his "aeronautical views" with perfect precision. At the same time, he pursued a career as an illustrator for magazines such as Le Figaro Illustré and L'Illustration. With this medium, Devambez lets his overflowing imagination roam. He summons swarming crowds, truculent characters, frightening monsters, like the "Macrobes" that he invents for a science fiction short story.
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