DECORATIVE ARTS DESIGNS

TEXTILES FROM LYON

The French city of Lyon maintains a rich legacy of silk and textile production, established through its combination of artistic creativity and technical innovation. Fueled by the French aristocracy’s aesthetic demand for luxury goods and the high cost of Italian silks, the Lyonnais silk industry emerged during the late Renaissance and was bolstered by a series of policies that centralized silk imports and textile
manufacturing in Lyon.

With the innovation of the Jacquard loom at the turn of the 19th century, the increasing industrialization of the industry enabled large-scale production that precipitated a professional niche in textile design. Skilled textile designers created original designs – hand painted in gouache or printed on special paper – as blueprints for the silk weavers. While many of these designers are rendered anonymous due to the functional purpose of their patterns, their artistry and acuity with both the technical facets of fabric production and decorative ideals contributed significantly to the landscape of global textile aesthetics.

SILVER BY JEAN-GUILLAUME MOITTE (1745-1810)

Jean-Guillaume Moitte was born in Paris to an artist father, Pierre-Etienne Moitte. From 1761-64, he trained under the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Pigalle and then transferred to the Atelier of Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, the favorite sculptor of King Louis XV. Despite this training and various important commissions, the period that most influenced Moitte’s oeuvre was his time at the Académie in Rome.

Here he studied Roman reliefs, vases, urns and sarcophagi, and it was this concentration on the art of antiquity that inspired him on his return to France. Following his return to Paris, Moitte is said to have executed plus de mille dessins de ce genre for the celebrated goldsmith Henri Auguste. Moitte’s classically inspired drawings contributed much to the development of the Empire style in metalwork in which Auguste’s oeuvre played an important role.

Early 20th Century Jewelry Designs

1920-1940’s French Textile Designs by Atelier Arthur Litt

A prominent French textile designer, Arthur Litt (Paris, France, 1905-1961) established the leading textile design atelier in the late-1920s in Paris. Featuring an oeuvre of striking abstract designs and a bold use of color, the Atelier Arthur Litt was a major contributor to the field of modern textile and fabric design from the 1930s through the Second World War. Original stencilled gouache designs on paper are numbered and bear the red ink stamp on verso: Dessins Industriels Paris Arthur Litt. Original gouache designs by Atelier Arthur Litt are in the collections of Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University.

Textile Designs by Maurice Leonard (Paris, 1899-1971)

Maurice Léonard was a French artist known for his landscapes and decorative designs. Léonard was the grandson of theater designer Louis Auguste Lemeunier and the nephew of Pierre-Eugène Montézin, a post-Impressionist artist who worked in the tradition of Sisley and Monet. Léonard was trained under the tutelage of his uncle at the Academie Beaux-Arts in Paris. Prolific with drawing, watercolor, pastels and oil paints, Léonard notably featured Breton landscapes in his paintings after encountering Brittany for the first time around 1923.

He exhibited in Paris at the Salon of French Artists, Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d'Automne. Léonard was awarded the silver medal from the Salon of French Artists in 1922 and the gold medal of the Salon of French Artists in 1937.

PORCELAIN (PARIS, SEVRES, DIJON, 1880-1930)

EMBROIDERY Designs BY MARTINE LE COURS FOR MAISON PAUL POIRET (FRENCH, 1879-1944)

Paul Poiret was the first of the French fashion celebrities. He created his eponymous fashion house in 1903 and later opened Martine in April 1, 1911, consisting of a school, École Martine, an atelier and a home-ware product line. These drawings, circa 1910s, were created at the École Martine, a school devoted to artistically inclined working class girls. Named after Poiret's daughter, the school encouraged students to study nature and paint from their imagination, free from the hindrances of formal study. Some of these designs were then transferred onto fabrics for furnishings to be sold in the Martine atelier.