Astonishing Things

Novelist, poet and politician, Victor Hugo (1802-1885) was a towering figure in French 19th-century public life. The author of Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame became a symbol of the French Republic's ideals of equality and freedom during his long exile in the Channel Islands. His ink-and-wash visions of imaginary castles, monsters and seascapes may be less well known than his writings, but they inspired Romantic and Symbolist poets, and many artists including the Surrealists; Vincent van Gogh compared them to 'astonishing things'. This handsome book - the catalogue of an exhibition organised by the Royal Academy of Arts in collaboration with Paris Musees - Maison de Victor Hugo and the Bibliotheque nationale de France - includes new texts by leading authorities on Hugo and reproductions of many of his finest works on paper, from early caricatures and travel drawings to dramatic landscapes and experiments in abstraction. AUTHORS: Gerard Audinet is Director of the Maisons de Victor Hugo in Paris/Guernsey. Thomas Cazentre is Charge de collections: manuscrits modernes et contemporains at the Bibliotheque nationale de France, Paris. Sarah Lea is Curator at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. Rose Thompson is Assistant Curator at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. SELLING POINTS: . Discover the imaginary worlds of Victor Hugo, one of France's most famous writers, with his rarely-seen works on paper . Published to accompany an exhibition at the Royal Academy, 21 March - 29 June 2025