Théodore Hannon

Théodore (Théo) Hannon (1851-1916) was a Belgian painter, watercolorist, engraver, and man of letters. As a man of letters, he was a scenarist, theatrical-parodist, and poet.

As a poet he enjoyed the rare honor of being mentioned in glowing terms—along with French contemporaries Charles Baudelaire, Gustave Flaubert, Stéphane Mallarmé, Tristan Corbière, and Paul Verlaine—by Des Esseintes in Joris-Karl Huysmans' famous decadent novel, À rebours

Family Born October 1, 1851, at Ixelles, Belgium, and died April 7, 1916, at Etterbeek, Belgium, Théodore was the second of three siblings. His father, (1822-1870), was a doctor of medicine and a professor of natural sciences (botany, zoology) at the Free University of Brussels. His brother, Édouard Hannon (1853-1931), was an engineer by profession and a pioneer of Belgian artistic photography. His sister, Mariette Rousseau (1850-1926), née Marie-Sophie Hannon, was a respected mycologist.

Biography Hammond first followed in the footsteps of his deceased father, by enrolling in a study of the sciences (1870-1871) and then medicine (1871-1873) at the Free University of Brussels. But before he graduated, he pivoted away from medicine toward the fine arts. He re-enrolled at the Académie royale des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles (Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels), and took Camille van Camp as his master. He became a member of the Société Libre des Beaux-Arts and then in 1875, together with several other artists including Alfred Verhaeren, Louis Artan, Félicien Rops and Périclès Pantazis, became a founding member of a new, anti-conformist group: . , that had "youthful tendencies" and whose first number appeared November 28 1875. In 1877, he became editor-in-chief of this magazine.

In August 1876, he published his first book, Les vingt-quatre coups de sonnet, a collection of poetry published by Félix Callewaert, who also printed The Artist. The book of poetry was embellished by an amusing frontispiece (mistakenly attributed to Rops). It was the work of a debutant, but worthy of notice because of its curious amalgam of realistic audacities and Parnassian exigencies. He fluctuated between being a painter and a poet, without concealing which of the two he preferred. including letters from Théodore Hannon to Félicien Rops from 1875 to 1893 (Ms. II 7733), as well as several illustrations by Hannon. The letters from Rops to Hannon are located at the Archives et Musée de la Littérature and available online.

Literary works (in French)

Les vingt-quatre coups de sonnet, avec frontispice à l'eau-forte, Bruxelles, Imprimerie Félix Callewaert, 1876 - Lire en ligne Rimes de joie, Bruxelles, Gay et Doucé, 1881 - Lire en ligne Au pays du Manneken-Pis, Bruxelles, éditions Henry Kistemaeckers, 1883 - Disponible à KBR Le Candélabre, Bruxelles, L. Hochsteyn, 1883 (opérinette, music by Jules Klein) - Disponible à KBR Rimes de joie, Edition définitive (augmentée de douze pièces originales), Bruxelles, éditions Henry Kistemaeckers, 1884 - Disponible à KBR Pierrot macabre : ballet pantomime, chez Pierrot aîné ("Bergame"), Bruxelles, 1886 - Lire en ligne Spa !!! Tout le monde descend ! : revue-opérette en trois actes et quatre tableaux, Bruxelles, Lefèvre, 1887 - Lire en ligne Une messe de minuit, Bruxelles, Charles Vos, 1888 (illustrated by d'Amadée Lynen) - Lire en ligne Smylis, ballet en un acte, Bruxelles, A. Lefèvre, 1892 (music by Léon Dubois) - Disponible à KBR Noëls fin-de-siècle, Bruxelles, Paul Lacomblez, 1892 (illustrated by Amadée Lynen) - Disponible à KBR La Marche aux étoiles. Ombres de MM. Duyck et Crespin, Bruxelles, Ed. Monner, 1896 (with Luc Malpertuis) - Disponible à KBR Bruxelles en chair et en noces !!! Revue-opérette en 3 actes et 10 tableaux, représentée au théâtre de la Scala. Couplets, Bruxelles, imprimerie du Messager de Bruxelles, 1898 - Disponible à KBR Au clair de la dune : poèmes, éditions Dorbon Ainé, Paris (1909) - Lire en ligne* Couplets de Olymp... y a du monde! : revue de printemps en 2 actes et un prologue, Bruxelles, imprimerie Veuve G. Masure, 1901 (music by M. Belery) - Disponible à KBR Au clair de la dune : poèmes, éditions Dorbon Ainé, Paris (1909) - Lire en ligne* Au clair de la dune : poèmes, éditions Dorbon Ainé, Paris (1909) - Lire en ligne La Toison de Phryné, Paris, Dorbon Ainé ; Bruxelles, livre en souscription à l'agence Dechenne, 1913 (illustrated by Henri Thomas) - Disponible à KBR

Literary works (translated into English) Rhymes of Joy (originally Rimes de joie), Sunny Lou Publishing, 2023. Drinkers of Phosphorous and Other Songs of Joy (originally Rimes de joie), Richard Robinson (Translator), J.-K. Huysmans (Preface), Snuggly Books, 2020.