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Les Feuillets d' Art and
the Art of Pochoir
July 2009 |
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Les Feuillets d' Art, Volume II, le feuillets de la mode, "laissez-moi-seule!"
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Pochoir, literally the French
word for stencil, is both a centuries-old printmaking process and an important
chapter in modern graphic arts. Pochoir came to refer to fine stencil printing
in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. It reached its zenith in
Paris between 1910 and 1935 where it was used to decorate everything from
elegant fashion magazines and limited edition illustrated books, to greeting
cards, wallpapers and advertisements.
One of the foremost consumers of the pochoir genre in the early 20th century
was the fashion industry. In 1908 aspiring designer Paul Poiret, searching
for a unique way to promote his avant-garde couture, privately printed an
album of his designs to be given to potential clients. Les Robes de Paul
Poiret Racontees par Paul Iribe was an instant success with its svelte
models stenciled in vibrant, eye-catching colors and the scandalous cover
featuring a nude, coquettish Eve holding a luxuriant garland of apples and
roses.
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Click on an image for a larger view
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| Lucien Vogel, taking full advantage of the pochoir
technique in 1912, launched the lavishly illustrated monthly fashion magazine,
La Gazette du Bon Ton. Vogel employed some of the greatest illustrators
of the day to bring to life the newest creations of the Parisian couturiers.
The success of La Gazette du Bon Ton fueled the public's desire for
chic, colorful "journaux du gout" and gave birth to such publications
as the elegant Journal des Dames, the trendy Art, Goût,
Beauté, and Vogel's sequel to La Gazette, the superb but
short-lived, Les Feuillets d'Art. |
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Les Feuillets d' Art, Volume VI, le feuillets de la mode, "La pluie d'or..."
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Les Feuillets d' Art, Volume IV, le feuillets de la mode, composition par Edouard Halouze.
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| The 6 issues of Les Feuillets d'Art were
published in Paris by Vogel between May 1919 and July 1920. Les Feuillets
was issued in limited edition portfolio form. Each issue contained 5 feuillets,
or leaves, on the subjects of literature, theatre, arts and design, music,
and fashion (issues 3 through 6 have a sixth leaf, les feuillets de la publicité.)
Vogel intended for Les Feuillets to be a fashion-savvy review in
which he professed a dedication to "finding in the taste of the moment
all that is traditional and durable."1 To accomplish his
goal Vogel brought together the crème de la crème of the literary,
artistic and musical worlds of 1920's Paris. Amazingly there is poetry by
Paul Claudel, the younger brother of sculptor Camille Claudel, the first
publication of a composition by Maurice Ravel, and original woodblock prints
by Raoul Dufy, Odilon Redon, and John Storrs. |
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Les Feuillets d' Art, Volume II, le feuillets de la musique, "Frontispice" par Maurice Ravel, 5.
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Les Feuillets d' Art, Volume II, le feuillets littérares, onré de bois originaux de Raoul Dufy, 1.
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Les Feuillets d' Art, Volume V, le feuillets des arts du dessin,
"Le passage d'une âme" par Odilon Redon. |
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Les Feuillets d' Art, Volume IV, le feuillets littérares, bois
de John Storrs, 15. |
| The undisputed gems of the publication are
its hand painted pochoir prints. They are unaccompanied by text ("hors
texte") and are inserted for their beauty alone. The pochoirs can be
found in the last two leaves of each volume, as fashion plates in les feuillets
de la mode and as advertisements in les feuillets de la publicité.
These subtle, charismatic designs were produced by some of the greatest
artist/illustrators of the day, Georges Lepape, George Barbier, Edouard
Halouze and Charles Martin, to name just a few. All of the pochoirs reflect
the geometric modernist style of the Art Deco period. |
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Les Feuillets d' Art, Volume III, le feuillets de la mode, "Le Cavalier" par Robert Bonfils. |
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Les Feuillets d' Art, Volume III, le feuillets de la publicité,
Van Cleef et Arpels.
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Les Feuillets d' Art, Volume V, le feuillets de la publicité,
Pétrole Hahn. |
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Les Feuillets d' Art, Volume VI, le feuillets de la mode, "Un Conte," 74.
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The abundance of pochoirs lasted only a
few years after the demise of Les Feuillets. A world economic downturn
and machine printing were soon to spell the end of the hand-color process.
The pochoir gave way to less expensive forms of photomechanical color printing
and very few examples were produced after 1935. Pochoir, which had captured
the imagination of a generation of couturiers, artists, and illustrators,
became a part of the past, along with the Art Deco style.
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1Davis, Mary. Classic chic: music, fashion
and modernism. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006, p.92
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