Le Vingtième Siècle by Albert Robida

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More 19th-century futurism from French illustrator and author Albert Robida. Le Vingtième Siècle was published in 1883, and is a far more comical look at life in the 20th century than La Vie Électrique, showing a future where most of the airships are shaped like enormous fish. This is a copiously illustrated volume of over 500 pages so the selection is again limited. These examples are taken from a copy at Gallica but some of the larger drawings can be seen in higher quality at this Flickr set.

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Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
The illustrators archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
La Vie Électrique by Albert Robida
The Mysterious Explorations of Jasper Morello
Technology, then and now

3 thoughts on “Le Vingtième Siècle by Albert Robida”

  1. John

    After seeing your last two entries about Albert Robida would I be tripping if I detected some influence on the animations of Hayao Miyazaki? Howl’s Moving Castle especially.

  2. I’d never considered that but it seems possible. The Japanese are very familiar with European illustrators and aren’t shy about incorporating influences. The only trouble with tracing a Robida influence is that his work is of an age it may have influenced one artist who then influences another, and so on down the years.

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