marionnette à main (Hand Puppet)

Represents a character from the Guignol marionnette à main (hand puppet) tradition. An unemployed and impoverished silk-factory worker, Laurent Mourguet, from Lyons, is said to have created the first Guignol hand puppets in the early 1800s to earn money on the city streets to feed his family. The name Guignol belongs to the key character of this French puppetry tradition. With his trademark black cap—worn by lower class factory workers—Guignol is a simple yet kind-hearted fellow, who gets into sticky situations with his pal, Gnafron—the one with the ruddy face, who drinks too much wine. Other stock characters are: Guignol’s wife, Madelon; the Gendarme (policeman), Flagelot; the Judge, the Cardinal, and the Devil. Performed in pop-up booths, Guignol stories are full of humour, satire, and wit. Using local accents, dialect and slang, the plays and skits spotlight daily events and current affairs, poking fun at politicians, civic leaders and the upper classes. The raucous acts call for audience engagement: response, directions, feigned shock and lots of laughter.

Hand puppet, character from Guignol story. Head and hands are carved from wood and painted. He has black eyes, red lips, nostrils and inner corners of the eyes, and rosy cheeks. He wears a bright green felt hat with a yellow and brown embroidered band, open at the top, revealing flat painted wood. A strip of white hair wraps around the back of his head. His fabric body is gold-yellow with a gold, red and purple embroidered collar. The fabric is nailed to the hands and head. Operated by inserting a hand inside the body of the puppet to control its head and movements.