Edmond de Goncourt

Happy Birthday Edmond de Goncourt!! The French art critic was born in 1822. He collaborated with his brother Jules, writing about art and literature, as well as co-authoring 6 novels. It is said they did not spend more than a day apart in their entire adult life until Jules died in 1870. Though their criticism was intense, even caustic, they were a huge influence on French taste in the latter half of the nineteenth century. In fact they were the first to recognize the "sketch" and fragments as stand alone art works in their own right. Following his brother’s death, Edmond established the Academie Goncourt, a literary organization, in opposition to the existing Academie francaise, which awards the prix Goncourt to a deserving author each year.