Édouard-Henri Avril

Édouard-Henri Avril (French: [avʁil]; 21 May 1849 – 28 July 1928) was a French painter and commercial artist. Under the pseudonym Paul Avril, he was an illustrator of erotic literature.

Avril was a soldier before starting his career in art; he was awarded with the Legion of Honour for his actions in the Franco-Prussian War.

Avril was born in Algiers. His father was a colonel of the gendarmerie. Avril himself fought and was wounded in the Franco-Prussian War before starting his studies in art. He was awarded with the Legion of Honour on 31 May 1871 for injuries sustained during the war, which resulted in retirement from his military career on 23 January 1872.

Biographical material of his life is scarce due to the perceived obscene nature of his work and because he worked under a pseudonym of "Paul Avril". His pseudonym can lead to a confusion with his brother, who was named Paul-Victor Avril and was also an artist and worked as an engraver.

From 1874 to 1878, he was at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He worked for the illustrated newsmagazine Le Monde illustré in 1882.

Having been commissioned to illustrate Théophile Gautier's novel Fortunio, he adopted the pseudonym "Paul Avril". His reputation was soon established, and he received many commissions to illustrate both major authors and the so-called "galante literature" of the day, a form of erotica. However, his reputation as a commercial illustrator of novels was established before he began illustrating the more underground erotic literature. These books were typically sold in small editions on a subscription basis organised by collectors. Erotica of that time received very limited prints and sometimes were limited to only about 100 copies or were sold only within exclusive circles of collectors.^{[citation needed]}

Because of the perceived obscenity of Avril and his works, it is difficult to assess the impact that his art might have had on the culture of the time.

Avril died at Le Raincy near Paris in 1928.