Albert Uriet
Albert Uriet, first illustrator of “Grand Meaulnes”, was born on January 7, 1889 in Fontenay-sous-Bois (Val-de-Marne), his father a carpenter and his mother a seamstress. He married in Paris on January 26, 1922 with Germaine Huet, from whom he divorced in November 1940. Germaine Huet was the cousin of Germaine Dauptain, second wife of Jean Paulhan. He died on March 25, 1954 in Saint Symphorien (Indre-et-Loire).
Albert Henri Uriet apprenticed with a bicycle merchant in Fontenay-aux-Roses, then he attended the School of Decorative Arts on rue d'Ulm, in Paris. After an exhibition at the Galerie André (rue des Saints-Pères), he joined Rvepp, a Swiss German based on rue Bergère, in Paris, where he worked as [ ? ].
During the war of 1914, Albert Uriet was mobilized at the fort of Saint-Denis then at those of Vincennes and Beauvais, where he met Jean Paulhan. A strong friendship will bind them for years.
In 1918, he made some drawings for a daily newspaper, then for the Guignol theater. Then, he entered the Deberny-Peignot foundry and became friends with André Mouron (Cassandre).
In 1925, he rented a castle in Saint-Vigord to run a boarding house. It was there that he created the illustration of Grand Meaulnes on behalf of the Association of Bibliophile Doctors.
The Mame et fils house in Tours then hired him as an illustrator. During the occupation, the clergy of Brittany had stored Les Grandes Heures de la Duchesse Anne de Nantes in the cathedral of Tours. The Mame house, in agreement with the archbishop, was inspired to create a missal which will be illustrated by Albert Uriet.
Resources
Images of works by Albert Uriet
Traces of the Grand Meaulnes in The bridge crossed (1921) by Jean Paulhan
(The war and Paulhan's meeting with Albert Uriet)
See also, by Jean Paulhan :