British artist Frank C. Papé (1878-1972) is all but forgotten today, but in the period preceding the First World War he was a highly regarded illustrator in the UK, providing lavish color plates for popular collections of fairy tales and folklore. His career was interrupted when he volunteered for the Royal Army Service Corps in 1915, and faltered for a few years until he was commissioned to provide black and white illustrations for a 1921 edition of American satirist James Branch Cabell's controversial novel "Jurgen." Cabell's wry fantasy brought out Papé's own satirical impulses, and the resulting sly, risqué artwork led to more work illustrating books by such "disreputable" authors as Cabell, Anatole France, and Rabelais. This second career brought Papé international acclaim, but by the mid-1930s his output had slowed down and his fame faded. "Opulent Conceits: The Art of Frank C. Papé" will take a look at the life and career of this unjustly overlooked artist, with an emphasis on his satirical work in the 1920s.
