Poor Jean-Emile Laboureur. It seems that whenever I think about the inadequacy of artistic labels, whether for movements, styles or periods, there he is. Such is fate of the multi-talented Frenchman.Now consider the term 'Art Deco.' Thanks to the huge success of the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, held in Paris in 1925 and attended by some six million visitors, the name was affixed to a style. But the style already existed, a sideways relative of cubism. Some sources point out that an exposition had been planned for 1915, but postponed because of World War I and others, like the Heilbrunn
Timeline of Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, dodge the term altogether in their index.I did not have to look hard to find Deco style works by Laboureur before 1925. The Violet Seller (1914), Springtime In Artois (1916) and The Balcony By The Sea (1923) are but a few from many fine works in the Laboureur catalogue that demonstrate the streamlined look. In one of Laboureur's finest works, Suzanne Laboureur, the artist's wife, posed for The Balcony By The Sea at their home in Le Croisic. An unnamed crit
ic on the Laboureur website writes patronizingly that the artist didn't know Cubism was over when he made this engraving. Maybe Laboureur could have saved himself the trouble.You will notice that, in two of these pieces, a new style of lettering stands out. The expatriate American photographer Therese Bonney (1894-1978) took note of this feature as soon as she arrived in Paris to study at the Sorbonne in 1918. She would focus on this feature quite obsessively in her own work.Images: from http://www.laboureurprints.com/.
10 comments:
I suspect Laboureur would have taken his pre-war Cubism into a much more Futurist/Vorticist realm if WWI had not happened. Many artists who saw at first hand the reduction of the world to shards of itself took refuge post-war in an aesthetic that privileged pleasure over disintegration. I think of Dufy in particular, but I suspect the same can essentially be said of Laboureur.
I agree wuth you absolutely. Noone woke up in 1925 and said "now is the time for a new, modern style which we will call Deco".
Cubism was already an style of interest before WW1. And I have no doubt that Art Nouveau had reached its natural end by the time the machine guns started gunning down young boys in 1914. A more modern, geometric, masculine alternative to Art Nouveau was emerging.
Have a look at 3 furniture examples, clearly Deco but WELL before 1925:
1. Josef Chochol, 1911, armchair http://www.tribu-design.com/collections/scans/0000965.jpg
2. Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann, 1913, armchair, http://www.tribu-design.com/collections/scans/0000309.jpg and
3. Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann, 1919-22, dressing table, http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1157_art_deco/img/starobjects/p_dressingtable.jpg
Neil, I think the differences between post WW I art in France and Italy fit with what you say. Right now I'm reading a book on 20th century art written by an Italian and the perspective is a welcome change.
Hels, thank you for the furniture. 1925 was certainly an important year for Art Deco, commercially. It makes a good parlor game to speculate about the name the style might have had if the Exposition had never taken place - or had taken place in 1915 when it was originally planned.
So true. Art Deco didn't magically 'appear' in 1925. I see stirrings of the style even in late 19th century Art Nouveau pieces (the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret MacDonald comes to mind).
Laboureur's work is technically brilliant (in my humble opinion), but I don't much care for it. Perhaps it's the melancholy aspect?
Hi Jane,
I'm a big fan of your blog but I'm afraid that I don't feel qualified to comment on this question!
I'm interested in the book that you are reading?
Aida, Laboureur did several different types of work, as I alluded to in the article. On 26 November 2008 I posted a piece calledf "Jean-Emile Laboureur - The Pink Period" that mioght interest you.
Welcome, Viola. Interest is the major qualification. Everything else follows. The book I mentioned is "Art: the Twentieth Century" by Flaminio Gualdoni. It was just published by Skira: Milan. It's distributed in the U.S. by Rizzoli and elsewhere by Thames & Hudson. It's in paperback.
Regarding Aida's comment, I feel she has a real point, Laboureur is technically impeccable, and, I think, a really important graphic artist. But there is a coolness to his work - some might call it elegance - that amounts to a kind of emotional withdrawal. He is observing, not participating. Here we have an artist whose first mentor was Toulouse-Lautrec. So where's the passion and exhilaration? I think it was lost in the war. I don't know what Laboureur's experience was in WWI, but he came out of it much more reserved and dispassionate.
There is certainly nothing here like the grittiness of Laboureur's scenes of industrial Pittsburgh. The Laboureur website is organized chronologically, making it easy to follow what the artist was doing. The puzzle is in the 'why.' Thanks.
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