L'Ymagier

Jarry, a French playwright and artist, and Gourmont, a novelist and poet of the same nationality, had worked in woodcuttings for many years before they joined together to form the magazine, although both men were so poor at times that they were forced to experiment with other mediums, such as linoleum and soap for their cuttings.

Jarry and Gourmont founded their own magazine in 1894 with a modest fortune, thus giving them a venue through which they would have complete artistic control over the expression and presentation of both their art and their interests.

The two also attempted to impress in their magazine the rejection of an optical reality, and instead tried to return art to a place of cult and ritual, hence the heavy religious imagery which peppered several of the issues.

It was filled with elaborate and striking religious imagery, yet it was followed shortly by the shockingly graphic and unusual issue "Monsters" in January 1895.

Aside from Jarry and Gourmont, L'Ymagier published engravings from Gauguin, Bernard, Francois Georgin, a renowned woodcutter of the day, and Henri Rousseau who developed the status of cult artist due to his work in the magazine and was consistently one of its most popular contributors.

The journal was dedicated to juxtaposing conflicting elements often seen separately in art, such as intellectuality and naiveté, as well as presenting the complete works of Albrecht Dürer, a 15th-century painter and printmaker from Germany.