Immerse yourself in an exciting time, That of the rise of the press and journalism in the time of Germaine de Staël (18th and 19th century). Historic-literary conference, Organized as part of the 10th cultural season of the Coppet meetings association.

Around 1800: Switzerland between two satirical and media regimes

Speaker: Philippe Kaenel, Associated professor with UNIL (Art History section), and specialist in the satirical press in Switzerland and the graphic work of Rodolphe Töpffer (1799-1846). Doctoral thesis on "The Metter of the illustrator 1830-1880" (2005). Currently finalized the writing of a reference book on "the history of caricature in Switzerland from Holbein".

The French Revolution then the Napoleonic adventure deeply marked Switzerland, both ideologically and media and artistic. In the space of about fifty years, The caricature evolves towards the press drawing (the first satirical newspaper was printed in Lausanne in 1839). She experienced a remarkable boom in the last third of the 18th century, in the semi-private and public sphere, Under the pencil of brilliant artists like Adam Töpffer in Geneva, Baltasar Anton Dunker in Bern or David Hess in Zurich. They offer caustic visions of local news, regional and international: so many points of view on revolutionary France, marked by the geographic and social affiliations of their authors. A new public space is then in training where the image begins to play identities -with humor.