Assembly of Animals / Union pour la Cinégénie
Etching by J.B. Huet, 1792
Red Stamp
62.8 × 49.8 × 4.5cm
2013
This work is an 18th-century etching made by Jean-Baptiste Huet on which the stamp of the Union pour la Cinégénie has been added. This entity is an open group discussion, a free to join leftist workers-filmmakers union, an assembly. The stamped engraving is the printing matrix of a poster for the promotion of the Union pour la Cinégénie.
This image of a wide variety of animal species, including a horse, lion, goat, dog and humble rabbit converging apparently for some sort of conference, was made in 1792 which is the “Year I” of the French Republic. It commemorates the first session of the National Convention on 20 September. The delegates to the Convention came from all classes of society.
To mark the beginning of this era, the newly established National Convention established the Republican Calendar, which was used by the French government for about 12 years from late 1792 to 1805 and for 18 days by the Paris Commune in 1871. Under the Republican Calendar, each day had an animal instead of a saint as in the Roman Catholic calendar.