The Twentieth Century (1883)
The conference “Albert Robida and the Transports” is organized by the Historical Society of Compiègne, the Albert Robida’s Friends Association and the Friends of the Popular Novel Association.
Albert Robida (14 May 1848 – 11 October 1926) was a French illustrator, etcher, lithographer, caricaturist, and novelist. He edited and published La Caricature magazine for 12 years. Through the 1880s he wrote an acclaimed trilogy of futuristic novels. In the 1900s he created 520 illustrations for Pierre Giffard’s weekly serial La Guerre Infernale (The Infernal War”).
Albert Robida was rediscovered thanks to his trilogy of futuristic works:
- Le Vingtième Siècle (The Twentieth Century, 1883)
- La Guerre au vingtième siècle (The War in the Twentieth Century, 1887)
- Le Vingtième siècle. La vie électrique (The Twentieth Century. The Electrical Life, 1890)
These works drew comparison to Jules Verne. Unlike Verne, he proposed inventions integrated into everyday life, not creations of mad scientists, and he imagined the social developments that arose from them, often with accuracy: social advancement of women, mass tourism, pollution, etc. His La Guerre au vingtième siècle describes modern warfare, with robotic missiles and poison gas. His Téléphonoscope was a flat screen television display that delivered the latest news 24-hours a day, the latest plays, courses, and teleconferences.
Robida illustrated two works by Pierre Giffard:
- La Fin du Cheval (“The End of the Horse”), on the inevitable replacement of the horse by the bicycle and then by the car.
- La Guerre Infernale (“The Infernal War”), a 1908 serial adventure novel for children that appeared weekly every Saturday. Robida contributed 520 illustrations. The novel described the second world war, years before it happened, describing an attack on London by the Germans and war between Japan and the United States. It was subsequently republished as a book.
The Twentieth Century. The Electrical Life, 1890
Speakers : J.C. Viche (president of the Albert Robida’s Friends Association) and Dominique Lacaze.
Time of the conference: 15h.00
Duration: 2h30
Venue: Saint-Corneille Library of Compiègne, Chapitre Hall
Leaving the Opera in the year 2000
Program :
Dominique Lacaze : “The transport tubes in Robida’s art : from fiction to reality”
Volker Dehs : “Between “Paris in the Twentieth Century” by Jules Verne, “The Twentieth Century” by Albert Robida and “In 1900″ by Pierre Véron”
Daniel Compère : “These curious balloons : Alfred Driou, Jules Verne, Guyon and Danrit”
Jean-Claude Viche : “Robida and Giffard, friends and companions of the automotive sports and cycling”
Philippe Scheinhardt : “The travel through space at Verne, Flammarion and Laurie”
The War in the Twentieth Century, 1887
http://www.histoire-compiegne.com/shc-communications-conferences.asp
