Gazette Du Bon Ton: Reconsidering the Materiality of the Fashion Publication

Home , Bernard Boutet de Monvel, Gazette du Bon Ton, Jeanne Paquin, La Gazette (France), Paul Iribe, Paul Poiret

Gazette du Bon Ton: Reconsidering the Materiality of the Fashion Publication

by Michele L. Hopkins

BA in Government and Politics, May 1989, University of Maryland

A Thesis submitted to

The Faculty of The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Decorative Arts and Design History

August 31, 2018

Thesis directed by

Erin Kuykendall Assistant Professor of Decorative Arts & Design History

Dedication

To Mary D. Doering for graciously sharing her passion and extensive knowledge of costume history in developing the next generation of Smithsonian scholars. Thank you for your unwavering encouragement. This thesis is dedicated to you.

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Acknowledgments

What strange phenomena we find in a great city, all we need do is stroll about with our eyes open.

~Charles Baudelaire

The author wishes to gratefully acknowledge the guidance of Tanya Williams Wetenhall,

Erin Kuykendall, and Kym Rice.

To Elizabeth Deans Romariz, thank you for shaping my thesis topic and for inspiring me to strive for academic excellence beyond my comfort zone. The academic journey into the world of rare books changed my life.

To April Calahan, thank you for your generosity in opening the vast resources of the

Library Special Collections and College Archives (SPARC) at the Fashion Institute of

Technology (FIT) to me.

To Simon Kelly, my summer with you at the Saint Louis Art Museum introduced me to late nineteenth-century Paris, the center of art, fashion, commerce, and spectacle. Your rigorous research methods inform my work to this day, you are the voice in my head.

And to my daughter, Rummer Bershtein, and my mother, Marguerite Hopkins, thank you for bravely encouraging me to run in the direction of my dreams.

Abstract

Gazette du Bon Ton: Reconsidering the Materiality of the Fashion Publication

The creation of national identity through the printed publication was historically important in developing French economic and cultural dominance. Luxury periodical publications such as Gazette du Bon Ton followed in the footsteps of historic predecessors in promoting French fashion and standards of taste to elite audiences at home and abroad, and editors such as Lucien Vogel, who positioned Gazette du Bon Ton alongside the exquisitely produced, influential fine art, decorative art, and design guides of the time, became powerful voices reporting on fashion and appropriate social etiquette during a time of profound social change.

The separation and cataloguing of individual pochoir from Gazette du Bon Ton has, over time, shifted the publication from rare book libraries to print, photography, and drawing collections and the classification of Gazette du Bon Ton pochoir as ephemera.

This shift has limited our understanding of the complete publication. Prior research of

Gazette du Bon Ton has focused primarily on the visual merits of fashion pochoir.

This thesis attempts to redress that imbalance by analyzing the material components of

Gazette du Bon Ton and reconsidering the vision of powerful editors such as Lucien

Vogel in directing social narratives reflective of their time.

Table of Contents

Dedication ii

Acknowledgments iv

Abstract v

Table of Contents vi

List of Figures vii-ix

Chapter 1: Introduction 1-4

Chapter 2: The Historic Influence of the French Fashion Publication 5-14

Chapter 3: The Collaborative Networks 15-24

Chapter 4: The Finest Print Materials 25-36

Chapter 5: The Development of the French Publishing Industry 37-44

Chapter 6: Conclusion 45-49

Bibliography 50-54

Appendix A 55

Appendix B 56-59

List of Figures

Figure 1: Textile production supported by the monarch 5 Sébastien Le Clerc I, Colbert Visiting the Gobelins, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Figure 2: Dedication page. 6 Mercure galant, 1679, Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Figure 3: Fashion engraving. 7 Jean Lepautre,“Déshabillé d’hiver”, L’Extraordinaire du Mercure galant, The British Museum.

Figure 4: Frontispiece. 9 Galerie des modes, 1778, Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Figure 5: Fashion album page. 10 Claude-Louis Derais, Galerie des modes, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

Figure 6: The unified interior folio pochoir. 16 Harmonies by Émile-Jacques Rulhmann.

Figure 7: The fashion folio pochoir. 17 Paul Iribe, Les robes de Paul Poiret, The Getty Research Institute.

Figure 8: Pochoir folio insert. 18 A.Lorenzi, “Apres L’Ondee”, Gazette du Bon Ton, Smithsonian Libraries.

Figure 9: Artist page layout design. 19 Charles Martin, “Les Dessous a la mode”, Gazette du Bon Ton, FIT.

Figure 10: Letter writing from established writers. 21 “Lettre a Une Provinciale”, Jean-Louis Vaudoyer, Gazette du Bon Ton, Smithsonian Libraries.

Figure 11: Reporting on theater. 22 A.E. Marty, “Le Gout au Theatre”, Gazette du Bon Ton, FIT.

Figure 12: Subscription notice. 23 Gazette du Bon Ton, January 1914, FIT.

Figure 13: Page layout of the beautiful book. 25 Esther Pissarro, La Belle au bois dormant par Charles Perrault.

Figure 14: Full page image and text. 26 “Mascarades”, Gazette du Bon Ton, Smithsonian Libraries. vii

Figure 15: Manuscript page decoration. 26 Glazier-Rylands Bible, ca. 1260-1270, Victoria and Albert Museum.

Figure 16: Publication page decoration. 26 Gazette du Bon Ton, July 1914, Smithsonian Libraries.

Figure 17: Historic influence of foliated initals. 27 A Church Representing the Promised Land, Walters Art Museum.

Figure 18: Historic influence of foliated initals. 27 Waters of the Wondrous Isles, University of Cincinnati Rare Book Library.

Figure 19: Historic influence of foliated initals. 27 “Voices des Roses,” Gazette du Bon Ton, Smithsonian Libraries.

Figure 20: “Cave Paintings in Indonesia Redraw Picture of Earliest Art,” 29 National Geographic, October 8, 2014.

Figure 21: Early French stencil. 30 Gilles Savoure, Woodcut Playing Card, Victoria and Albert Museum.

Figure 22: Stencil cut-outs from Epinal, France. 30 Artist Unknown, Pantins Pierrot, Les Collection du Musee de l’image, Villa Epinal.

Figure 23: Nineteenth-century caricature. 31 Hermann Vogel, L’Assiette au Beurre, Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Figure 24: Poster illustration as modern art. 32 Ateliers Cheret, Specimens d’affiches artistiques,Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

Figure 25: Finely stenciled katagami iris pattern. 32 Katagami Japanese Stencils in the collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Figure 26: French stencil design. 33 Jean Saude, Traite d’enluminure d’art au pochoir, Paris, Editions de L’Ibis, NYPDL.

Figure 27: Wet look of pochoir. 33 George Lepape, “Ombrelles”, Gazette du Bon Ton, Smithsonian Libraries.

Figure 28: Catalogue page describing number three weight vellum. 34 Samples of Handmade Japanese Vellum from the Shidzuoka Mill, Japan Paper Company.

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Figure 29: Papier vergé. 35 Pierre de la Mésangère, Journal des dames et des modes, Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Figure 30: Bifolio Pages. 36 Lucien Vogel, Gazette du Bon Ton, Tome Fashion Institute of Technology.

Figure 31: Cover page from first French publication. 39 Theophraste Renavdot, La Gazette, Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Figure 32: Article fusing design motifs and decorative art. 42 Art et decoration, January-June, Fashion Institute of Technology.

Figure 33: Early Publications of Librairie centrale des beaux-arts. 43

Figure 34: Original print-run issue cover. 46 Lucien Vogel, Gazette du Bon Ton, Fashion Institute of Technology.

Figure 35: Close-up of layered color and metallic ink. 47 Charles Martin, “Pomme aux Levres”, Gazette du Bon Ton, FIT.

Figure 36: Pulled stitching and paper degradation from hard-bound issues. 47 Lucien Vogel, Gazette du Bon Ton, Smithsonian Libraries.

Figure 37: Cut page bottom and glued pochoir. 48 Lucien Vogel, Gazette du Bon Ton, Smithsonian Libraries.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Prior research of the French periodical publication Gazette du Bon Ton has focused primarily on the visual merits of full-page fashion pochoir without giving equal consideration to the historic significance and materiality of the complete

publication. Over time, individual pochoir were separated from their original

publication and have been studied as singular interpretations of fashion. The

heightened emphasis placed on Gazette du Bon Ton's pochoir diminished the powerful

role of editor Lucien Vogel in terms of branding French fashion. Reconsidering Gazette

du Bon Ton as a complete and artfully presented publication explores the intersections of

fine art with commerce between 1912 and 1914 and its evolution in expressing a modern

design aesthetic. Lucien Vogel created a luxury fashion publication that was influential in

branding French standards of taste and the promise of a new century. In considering the

historic importance of his fashion publication, we must take into account: the

collaborative networks of artists, couturiers, and writers working in Paris; the use of fine

luxury print materials; and the relationship with publisher, Librairie centrale des beaux-

arts.

Gazette du Bon Ton published sixty-nine issues over a six-year period with a

break in publishing during the war years 1916-1919. The fashion periodical was

distributed monthly with ten issues produced each year, there were no issues printed in

January and August. The publication’s first three years 1912-1914 were the strongest in

reflecting Lucien Vogel’s vision for the publication and are the focus of this thesis. The

first issue was published in November 1912. Lucien Vogel outlined his vision for Gazette

du Bon Ton in the promotional issue when he wrote:

Now that fashion has become an art, a fashion gazette must also be an art revue.

So it will be with Gazette du Bon Ton. This revue will also be a work

of art. Everything about it will please the eye, its paper, format, characters,

texts, illustrations, and the couturier's models . . . those creators of masterpieces

who have made the entire world envy and admire French fashion.1

The complete name Gazette du Bon Ton: art, modes, and frivolités translated as “Journal

of Good Taste: art, fashion, and frivolity.” The attachment of the words art, fashion, and

frivolity to the title signaled that the publication would focus on art and fashion as equal

platforms, and that the publication tone would be lighthearted. The use of the word

frivolity was more an expression of self-modesty than silliness. Lucien Vogel approached

the creation of Gazette du Bon Ton with serious focus. He envisioned the fashion

periodical as a distinctive luxury publication for the couture collector and wealthy

bibliophile. In doing so, he linked Gazette du Bon Ton to historic audiences of powerful

elites who distinguished themselves by their power to purchase, collect, and display

printed works. He carefully directed each element of Gazette du Bon Ton, shaping the

publication as an influential, innovative fashion periodical. In doing so, he branded

French fashion and standards of taste as culturally endowed and historically distinct.

Lucien Vogel grew up in a household centered around the expansion of nineteenth-century illustration and publishing. His German father, Hermann, was a formally trained painter and engraver who emigrated to Paris and found work as an

1 Alain Weill, Ian Monk, and Valérie Donnat, Parisian Fashion, La Gazette du Bon Ton 1912–1925 (Paris: Bibliothèque de l'Image, 2000), 8.

illustrator and caricaturist.2 Young Lucien studied briefly at Ecole Alsacienne where he

met artists Pierre Brissaud and Andre Marty – both would figure prominently in the early

years of Gazette du Bon Ton.3 He married Cosette de Brunhoff, the daughter of the editor-in-chief of Comoedia Illustre and sister of one of his classmates from Alsacienne.

Vogel assisted his father-in-law with the production of Ballet Russe catalogues and made

acquaintance with the artists working with Diaghilev. Vogel began his career as art

director at Femina, a literary women’s periodical promoting the work of prominent

writers and artists during a time of profound social change. He went on to become editor-

in-chief of Art et Décoration, a leading interior publication focused on commentary and

illustrations of decorative art, architecture, and design history4. He was well positioned

with the talent and connections to embark on his first publication project.

Lucien Vogel was the first to incorporate the art of pochoir within a women’s

fashion periodical publication. The additive process of neatly stenciling layers of strong

blocks of color expressed a modern design aesthetic. Inventors, publishers, designers,

couturiers, and writers integrated their formal training and considerable talents with

advances in reproductive print processes and emerging industrial technology to create a

luxury publication of ornamental beauty, unified decorative composition, handmade

paper, exceptional color, and technical virtuosity. As a result of the artistic contributions

of this network, Lucien Vogel elevated the fashion publication to a complete work of art.

2 There is little written about Hermann Vogel’s career. One entry was found “Hermann Vogel”, Lambiek Comicyclopedia, https:/www.lambiek.net/artists/vogel_hermann.htm. Illustrations from three publications were located on the Bibliothèque nationale de France, gallica.fr website. 3 Weill, Parisian Fashion, 6. 4 Sarah Schleuning does an excellent job in her book, Moderne: Fashioning the French Interior, of connecting the production of theatre, interior, and fashion set production.

His relationship with publisher Librairie centrale des beaux-arts featured prominently in branding the publication as an art book and design guide for wealthy audiences interested in collecting and displaying decorative art objects. The connection of art to the luxury printed publication retained its historic importance as arbiter of fashion and standards of taste, however, it is crucial to analyze the material components of the publication to fully interpret the meaning and value in its time.

Each element of a printed work’s careful construction fostered a complex set of ideas and contributed to its message. Printed works played a powerful role in facilitating this dialogue. Michel Melot wrote in The Art of Illustration of the “silent complicity between text and picture, a complicity arising behind the back of both writer and artist and creating a new type of expression whose meaning was determined by the editor who put the two elements together.”5 Editors constructed social order within the borders of the printed publication expressing specific points of view, providing instruction on acceptable behavior, and challenging prevailing norms. Gazette du Bon Ton was the vision of one man and his reflection of the profound political and cultural shifts taking place in Paris at the turn of the century. Lucien Vogel played a powerful role in facilitating this dialogue providing the instructional guide to a lifestyle of fashion, art, theatre, travel, design, and appropriate social etiquette. Creation of national identity through print collections and publications was historically important in maintaining French economic and cultural dominance.

5 Michel Melot, The Art of Illustration (Geneva: Skira,1984), 153.

Chapter 2: The Historic Influence of the French Fashion Publication

Dissemination of standards of taste through the French publication was fundamental in branding the political prominence and economic power of the French court during the reign of Louis XIV. Reporting on fashion and social etiquette was instrumental in linking the traditions of the French court beyond the narrow inner circle to wider elite audiences. The nationalization of French fashion developed in the seventeenth century under the guidance of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV’s minister of finance6. Colbert’s goal was to build a self-sustaining nation through state sponsorship and financial support of important French industries. He centralized industrial production,

imported skilled talent when

necessary, and developed

export markets for luxury

goods. Colbert’s vision was to

create an exclusive market for

French luxury goods

Figure 1: Textile production supported by the monarchy. Sébastien Le Clerc I, Colbert Visiting the Gobelins, ca. 1665, etching, expanding audiences at home 14.5 x 23.8 cm, Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 53.600.2612. and abroad. Textile manufacturing was an industry critical to France’s economic success and featured prominently in the engravings and prints highlighting the activity of the monarchy during

6 Daniel Roche’s book, The Culture of Clothing: Dress and Fashion in the Ancien Régime, provides detailed analysis of personal inventories and textile production during Colbert’s time as finance minister that supports the argument that textile consumption was an economically powerful industry in seventeenth century France. Louis XIV’s image created during his reign as a monarch is skillfully and chronologically presented in Diana Marly’s Louis XIV and Versailles. Both publications are excellent sources.

this time (Fig. 1). French luxury goods were promoted in seventeenth-century print culture, a practice that continued through the twentieth century. Luxury periodical publications such as Gazette du Bon Ton followed in the footsteps of their historic predecessors in promoting French fashion and standards of taste to elite audiences at home and abroad.

Fashion reporting transmitted appropriate social etiquette and protocols of life in the seventeenth-century French court. As fashion historian Elizabeth Davis notes in

“Habit de qualité: Seventeenth-Century French Fashion Prints as Sources for Dress

History”: “At the royal court, fashion dictated behavior as well as communicated rank

and authority.”7 Social order was carefully constructed, providing an instructional guide

to the aspirations and exclusive lives of elite culture. Print publications promoted French

textile production and the royal manufacturers. Fashion

illustrations acted as visual guides, reporting and

instructing on the dress and social behavior of the French

nobility. There was a powerful economic motivation to

brand French identity and power under Louis XIV and

Colbert.

Figure 2: Dedication page. Mercure galant, 1679, Courtesy of Mercure galant was dedicated in 1672 to the Dauphin and Bibliothèque nationale de France, published in the name of the crown (Fig. 2). The publication transmitted important

changes in court protocol and social behavior serving as the legitimate voice of the state

7 Elizabeth Davis, “Habit de qualité: Seventeenth-Century French Fashion Prints as Sources for Dress History,” Dress: The Journal of the Costume Society of America 40, no. 2 (2012): 28.

6 and the glorification of the monarchy. The supplement, L’Extraordinaire du Mercure galant circulated news of the social activity at court complete with reviews on theatre, art, and fashion and reported on the merchants, couturiers, milliners, and consumers of

French fashion. The fashion engraving from the

January,1678 issue of L’Extraordinaire du Mercure

galant titled Déshabillé d’hiver (Fig. 3), for

example, provided a detailed explanation of luxury

textiles, fabric construction, color pairings, and

accessories appropriate to winter wear, as well as

merchant locations where items could be purchased. Figure 3: Fashion engraving. Jean Lepautre,“ Déshabillé d’hiver”, L’Extraordinaire du Mercure galant, L’Extraordinaire du Mercure galant disseminated January 1678, etching on paper, Courtesy of the British Museum, 2014.7029.2 court fashion to elite audiences and acted as an advertising and trade publication promoting French textile manufacturing. Fashion reporting and instruction began in the seventeenth century in the name of the monarchy.

The court-sponsored publication legitimized the importance of fashion as culturally and nationally distinct. The print publication expanded the reach of the monarchy by widening the audience both within France and abroad. This tradition began with the court of Louis XIV and extended to an increasingly interested public.

Lucien Vogel looked to the historic influence of the fashion publication in promoting French fashion and standards of taste. Henri Bidou, in his November 1912 introductory essay in Gazette du Bon Ton, wrote of the publication’s “ambition to renew the lovely tradition of illustrations with the fashion collections of yesteryear and their dignified predecessors who at the end of the eighteenth century inspired the beginning of

7 attention to fashion.”8 Bidou wrote of two fashion publications as influential to the creation of Gazette du Bon Ton: the 1778 Galerie des modes et costumes français and the

1797 Journal des dames et des modes. His reference to the artistic quality of the fashion engravings and the influential voices behind each publication align with Lucien Vogel’s vision for Gazette du Bon Ton. The exquisite hand-colored fashion engravings produced in both publications were collected in the early twentieth century. The fine artists who produced the fashion engravings in both publications worked across genres and were well-known in their time. Gazette du Bon Ton artists were likely exposed to the work of these publications’ artists during their formal academy training. The fashion engravings were produced as works of art and admired for their technical complexity, color, and beauty. In speaking of the dignified predecessors who inspired the attention to fashion,

Bidou expressed admiration for the influential voices behind each publication: the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in the case of Galerie des modes and the editor of

Journal des dames, Pierre de La Mésangère. Galerie des modes was the last publication produced by the French monarchy. Nineteen years later, Journal des dames et des modes was published under the name of an influential editor. Both are worth exploring in more detail.

One hundred years after L’Extraordinaire du Mercure galant, Galerie des modes was published as a collection or album of hand-colored fashion engravings attesting to

Louis XIV’s impactful legacy and the continued glorification of the monarchy. These engravings documented the fashion and social etiquette of the court of Louis XVI and

8 Henri Bidou, “Le Bon Ton,” Gazette du Bon Ton 1, no. 1, (November 1912): 1-4.

Marie Antoinette. France was at the center of fashion innovation during the eighteenth century, and the luxury album promoted French fashion and French artists. The frontispiece in Galerie des modes premiere issue introduced the folio as an album of

French fashion with illustrations by celebrity artists in the genre and colored with great care by Madame LeBeau (Fig.4). The use of the term “celebrity” leveraged the names of well-regarded artists in elevating French fashion and the fashion album as a luxury publication. Lithographic print innovation enhanced the quality of publication content

and layout in the late eighteenth century, paving

the way for the fashion album. In Another World:

Nineteenth-Century Illustrated Print Culture

Patricia Mainardi writes of the late eighteenth-

century evolution of fine art reproduction from

individual simple renderings to “portfolios of

related prints as albums bound with covers as

well as frontispieces, as facsimiles of earlier artist Figure 4: Frontispiece. Galerie des modes, 1778, Courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale de France, sketchbooks brought forth by the lithographic https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1056746t. process.”9 Hand-colored engravings inserted as thematic works of art into a fashion

album directed a prescribed narrative. The transmitting of fashion and standards of taste

through Galerie des modes branded French fashion as nationally distinct.

9 Patricia Mainardi, Another World: Nineteenth-Century Illustrated Print Culture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017), 48.

Galerie des modes fashion engravings were titled “Cahier de costumes françaises” (book of French costumes) and featured hand-colored and black and white engravings in an encyclopedic album. The generic title of each page and the descriptive naming of hair, fashion, and costume codified national style and contextualized

acceptable social behavior (Fig. 5). Galerie des modes

disseminated the lifestyle and fashions of the French

elite. The publication wrote of its desire “to gather all

the fashions and to make them known as soon as they

are hatched and to help propagate French fashion

abroad, a new branch of commerce, new resource for

Figure 5: Fashion album page. the nation.”10 This goal mirrored Colbert’s vision in Claude-Louis Derais, Galerie des modes, 1778, hand-colored engraving, Courtesy of the National Gallery of establishing French fashion as essential to the economic Art, Washington, DC, 1942.9.1552. stability of the nation. The fashion publication promoted textile production and the development of the fashion industry. When Lucien Vogel wrote in Gazette du Bon Ton about “those creators of masterpieces who have made the entire world envy and admire French fashion,”11 he was speaking of the historic role the fashion publication had played in codifying a French narrative. The economic importance and demand for French fashion reporting shifted from the occasional collection to the periodical publication. Remarkably, the format of the fashion publication remained relatively unchanged, even with the decline of the monarchy.

10 Nicolas Dupin, Galerie des modes et costumes française, (Paris: Esnauts et Rapilly, 1778). 11Weill, Parisian Fashion, 8.

Henri Bidou devoted the lengthiest section of his November 1912 Gazette du Bon

Ton introductory essay to the influential publication Journal des dames et des modes. He wrote of the 1797 publication as “the most famous fashion collection from 1797 through the 19th century, eclipsing all the others with Pierre de La Mésangère as the arbiter of elegance.”12 Lucien Vogel’s inspiration for creating Gazette du Bon Ton was tied closely to Journal des dames et des modes and the story was recounted by Edna Woolman Chase in her autobiography Always in Vogue. Lucien Vogel and his wife, Cosette, knew Edna

Woolman Chase through Condé Nast and Vogue. Chase described a weekend visit by the

Vogels to a cousin of Cosette’s in the country. Lucien and Cosette stayed in a bedroom normally occupied by a cousin of artists Bernard Boutet de Monvel and Pierre and

Jacques Brissaud. Hand-colored fashion engravings from Journal des dames et des modes and colorful paintings of fashion models by de Monvel and the Brissauds filled the room.

Lucien Vogel was struck by the striking color and stylish beauty of these works of art.

Inspired, he gathered the three men and their artist colleagues to discuss the idea of a fashion publication featuring hand-colored designs drawn by prominent artists. Lucien

Vogel was quoted as saying, “If I succeed in financing such a magazine, it will be a steady job for all of you.”13 He envisioned a modern interpretation of Journal des dames et des modes, a luxury periodical publication, drawn by formally trained fine artists and dedicated to selling French fashion and standards of taste.

After 1830 there was a decline in France of the hand-colored fashion illustration and the fashion publication—costs associated with putting together luxury publications

12 Bidou, Gazette du Bon Ton, 3–4. 13 Edna Woolman Chase and Ilka Chase, Always in Vogue (New York: Doubleday, 1954), 111.

were substantial. Advances in print technology allowed publishers and printers to focus

their efforts on reducing costs and expanding audiences. Publication quality significantly

deteriorated. Lucien Vogel’s vision for Gazette du Bon Ton was inspired by editor Pierre

de la Mésangère and Journal des dames et des modes’ lifestyle publication of hand-

colored fashion engravings and content catering to wealthy elites. The parallels between

the two fashion periodical publications were striking. The hand-colored fashion

engravings from Journal des dames et des modes and the hand-drawn and colored

pochoir of Gazette du Bon Ton were produced by formally trained artists.

The written content in Journal des dames et des modes included artful

explanations of each fashion engraving title “Explication de la Gravure” with detailed

descriptions of fabric, style, and time of day when fashions were appropriately worn.

Gazette du Bon Ton included an identical explanation page which preceded full-page pochoir designs titled “Explication des Planches” including descriptions of fabric, style, and when fashions were worn. Couturier and artist names were featured prominently on

Gazette du Bon Ton’s full page pochoir, an updated feature of the twentieth century fashion publication. Written content in each publication focused on similar themes of fashion, travel, literature, theatre, and art. Each publication transmitted appropriate social protocols for their time, reminiscent of the earlier publications produced by the court.

Pierre de la Mésangère’s position as editor of Journal des dames et des modes marked the decline of the monarchy’s influence in controlling standards of taste. He was an unusual voice for a luxury publication catering to wealthy elites. De la Mésangère had a humble background as a priest and philosophy professor, positions which ended with the revolution. His background was steeped in the traditional power centers of social

control - the church, and the university. Both institutions played a significant role in

controlling the content of printed works. De la Mésangère’s rise as editor of the 1797-

1830 Journal des dames et des modes reflected his knowledge of the power of printed

publications in redefining social order. In the February 15, 1913, Vogue article, “After the

manner of an old-style book,” Margaret Alice Friend called de la Mésangère, “the ruling

spirit of the book guiding the manners and modes of society” and quoted de la Mésangère

as saying, “the arbiters of fashion are not among those whom one regards with admiration

or whose society is sought.14 The consistent message filtered through Journal des dames

et des modes emphasized high standards of good taste and manners differentiated from

status through accumulated wealth or social position.

The message filtered through Gazette du Bon Ton was nearly identical. Henri

Bidou concluded in his introductory essay in Gazette du Bon Ton, “to have good taste, it

is not enough to be elegant. Elegance changes, good taste never varies. Gazette du Bon

Ton is an expression of this art.”15 Lucien Vogel reimagined Journal des dames et des modes and created Gazette du Bon Ton as the modern interpretation of the luxury French fashion publication. Ironically, the emphasis on good taste reflected the social and political uncertainty at the turn of each century. The periodical was increasingly influential in providing consistent predictable instruction on shifting social norms and became the “new unquestioned tool as a formidable opinion-shaper in the hands of the editor wielding it.”16 There has always been a powerful point of view expressed in

14 Margaret Alice Friend, “After the manner of an old-style book,” Vogue 41, no. 4 (February 15, 1913):104. 15 Bidou, Gazette du Bon Ton, 1–2. 16 Melot, The Art of Illustration, 153.

printed works. That power is expressed through a narrative that determines the visual

images, written content, and material quality of the publication. Louis XIV and Jean-

Baptiste Colbert set out to support textile production and direct wealthy elites on

appropriate social protocol. The message filtered through the villages and cities of

France, then spread beyond the country’s borders to promote the monarchy abroad.

L’Extraordinaire du Mercure galant promoted French fashion and life at court as

culturally and politically endowed. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette continued to

establish France as the center of fashion inventiveness introducing hand-colored

engravings in an encyclopedic album format. Both courts set out to brand France as the

fashionable, intellectual center of the world. There were strong economic incentives

behind each vision. Textile production and fashion prominence became deeply ingrained

in the French psyche. The elite public became conditioned to seek out fashion

publications for instruction on what to wear and how to behave. Ultimately, printed

works express particular points of view - the vision of a single individual directing the

narrative of the complete publication. Historically this was done under the name of the

monarchy. With the decline of the monarchy, editors emerged from behind the center of

powers to claim their seat at the table. Pierre de la Mésangère and Lucien Vogel were powerful editors who directed their own social narratives. Gazette du Bon Ton was created in the historic French model of fashion reporting. Paris, as the center of artistic innovation and creativity, was the city where that vision could materialize.

Chapter 3: The Collaborative Networks

Lucien Vogel had the vision to create a twentieth-century version of the luxury fashion publication and assemble the network to make that happen. In the promotional edition of Gazette du Bon Ton, he wrote of his vision in assembling the talent to produce such a publication,

Our finest artists will compose their most sublime pages for it, such as Cheruit, Doeuillet, Doucet, Paquin, Poiret, Redfern, and Worth—those creators of masterpieces who have made the entire world envy and admire the French fashion —and who will reserve their freshest creations for it. Thus, on the one hand, it will contain the latest models to emerge from the studios on rue de la Paix and, on the other, that spirit of fashion to be seen in the artist watercolors, that charmingly bold interpretation which they have made their own. Today’s artists are in many ways, inventors of fashion. How much does fashion owe to a man like Iribé, who brought us the simplicity of line and the taste for the Orient, to Drian, to Bakst, to a portrait painter such as Antonio de la Gándara in love with the supple richness of cloth? Thus, in each issue of Gazette du Bon Ton, you will find not only seven full-page plates of models created by couturiers, but also three plates of models invented by artists. This revue will also be a work of art.17 The brief decade of Art Nouveau ignited the desire for a modern interpretive language in

Paris at the beginning of the twentieth century. In his opening essay, “Pochoir Prints:

Publishing the Designed Interior,” Jeremy Aynsley considered the innovative use of

color and pochoir as “a print medium intimately connected with the desire to refresh the

identity of the artiste-décorateur”.18 Late nineteenth-century advances in reproductive

photomechanical processes led to innovation in print technology. The application of fine

and decorative art in industrial design created commercial opportunities for technically

17 Weill, Parisian Fashion, 8. 18 Sarah Schleuning and Marianne Lamonaca, Moderne: Fashioning the French Interior (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2008), 9. 15

trained academy artists, interior designers, and couturiers who utilized their skills in

interpreting interior and fashion design as fine art. Fine art and decorative art were

intersecting in new ways. Publications were instrumental in transmitting this shift in

design aesthetics. Decorative art and fashion publications served as advertising and

design guides promoting this shift.

These publications emphasized innovative color application and harmony in

unified design. Design ideas were

presented as folio works emphasizing

the complete vision of an individual

artiste-decorateur, such as Émile-

Jacques Ruhlmann’s 1913 Harmonies

(Fig. 6) or a collection of artistes-

decorateurs, such as Ruhlmann’s Figure 6: The unified interior folio pochoir, Harmonies by Émile-Jacques Rulhmann 1913. (In Moderne: Fashioning the French Interior by Sarah Interiors francais. Ruhlmann’s folio Schleuning, Miami Beach: Wolfsonian-FIU, 2008.) spoke of the aesthetic shift taking place in the early twentieth century with its vivid color palette and simplified clean design. The aesthetic was presented as modern, yet distinctively French. The French understood the importance of staying on the leading edge of luxury production. There was a strong economic motive behind France’s need to leverage its cultural dominance in historically prominent industries. The industrial revolution opened competition among European and non-European neighbors and the French understood the need to maintain their relevance.

Couturier Paul Poiret was an important decorative art innovator who leveraged the folio publication in promoting French fashion. He collaborated with artist Paul Iribé

in the 1908 Les robes de Paul Poiret and artist George Lepape in the 1911 Les choses de

Paul Poiret in adapting the luxury folio to promote his fashion collection. Innovation in

photomechanical processes provided the technology to faithfully reproduce hand-

colored pochoir and create luxury printed works for couturier clients and wealthy

collectors. The emphasis on color harmony and unified design spoke to a modern design

narrative in the early twentieth century (Fig. 7). Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann and Paul Poiret

were early innovators experimenting with color

application and unified design transmitted through

the luxury folio publication. Both men branded

French fashion and standards of taste as their historic

predecessors had done centuries before. The fashion

album of the eighteenth century and the fashion folio

Figure 7: The fashion folio pochoir. of the twentieth century showcased the work of fine Paul Iribe, Les robes de Paul Poiret, 1908, pochoir, The Getty Research Institute. artists and presented fashion designs which were

novel for their time. The fashion cycle encouraged textile production. The decorative art

and fashion luxury folio generated the interest of couturier clients and wealthy collectors.

Lucien Vogel envisioned a lifestyle periodical publication that incorporated these same

fine artists and couturiers living and working in Paris in creating a French luxury fashion

folio, Gazette du Bon Ton.

In the early twentieth century, the storied French fashion salons occupied the prestigious rue de la Paix in Paris. It would not have been possible to create a luxury fashion publication without the work of Paris’ top couturiers. The city remained at the center of fashion innovation and couturiers featured prominently in selling Paris as the

fashion capital. Lucien Vogel contracted with seven of the leading Parisian couturiers:

Paul Poiret, Jeanne Paquin, Jacques Doucet, Georges Doeuillet, Louise Chéruit, Redfern,

and the House of Worth (ironically, Redfern and Worth were English). Each couturier

produced one original design per issue and was prominently listed on the inside cover of

each monthly issue. In promoting original couturier designs, Vogel provided publication

subscribers exclusive access to French fashion. This practice differentiated his luxury

publication from that of his competitors. The couturiers under contract worked in close

proximity to one another on the rue de la Paix (Appendix A). Lucien Vogel

referred to the couturiers as “our finest artists . . .

those creators of masterpieces who have made the

entire world envy and admire the French fashion—

and who will reserve their freshest creations for it.”19

In outlining his vision for Gazette du Bon Ton, Lucien

Vogel promoted French fashion as art referring to

couturier designs as masterpieces. He prominently

Figure 8 Pochoir folio insert. A.Lorenzi, “Apres L’Ondee”, included couturier names below each full-page Gazette du Bon Ton, April 1913, Courtesy of the Smithsonian Libraries, original fashion design, a relatively new feature for a GT.500.G35, No. 6, Pl. V. fashion publication and a source of advertising for the couturier (Fig. 8).

Gazette du Bon Ton couturiers were paired with fine artists who were tasked with

interpreting their exclusive designs. The remaining three plates of each issue were

dedicated to original designs by Gazette du Bon Ton artists. Vogel noted, “the spirit of

19 Weill, Parisian Fashion, 8.

fashion to be seen in the artist watercolors, that charmingly bold interpretation which they

have made their own. Today’s artists are in many ways, inventors of fashion.”20 Gazette

du Bon Ton artists were not trained couturiers: their designs interpreted French fashion.

The June 15 Vogue article “Beau Brummels of the Brush” articulated the union between

artist and couturier: “the artist has discovered the couturier and vice versa, and they find

that they were not so very far apart after all, one uses paints as a medium and the other

silks and satins.”21 The practice of fine artists lending their names in selling luxury

publications was deeply rooted in historic fashion

publications such as Galerie des Modes and Journal

des dames et des modes. Gazette du Bon Ton

transmitted French standards of taste through

interpretative fashion design. Fashion and interior

artwork reflected the use of innovative color and

unified design by early twentieth-century artists. Figure 9: Artist page layout design. Charles Martin, “Les Dessous a la mode”, Gazette du Bon Ton, November Gazette du Bon Ton artists were an elemental part of 1912, Fashion Institute of Technology, TT.500.G35, 113. the complete publication design, illustrating ornamental page headings, foliated initials, and decorative page layouts. Artist- interpreted fashion pochoir were signed as were their decorative page designs in the style of fine art (Fig. 9). The eight original artists of Gazette du Bon Ton were all graduates of

20 Weill, 8. 21 “The Beau Brummels of the Brush,” Vogue 41, no. 4 (February 15, 1913): 35-37.

L’École des beaux-arts and according to a February 15, 1913, Vogue article, were the

Beau Brummels of art,

There are eight chiefs, there is Bernard Boutet de Monvel and his cousin, Pierre Brissard; there are Georges Lepape, George Barbier and Jean Besnard, A.E. Marty, Charles Martin and Paul Iribé and there is Lucien Vogel, the impresario, so to speak of the group, the one who has caused the airy fancies of the others to materialize for the benefit of the public. These well-known names, together with a number of lesser lights, carry a weight equal to a whole army of Latin Quarter artists. They are young men of family who have chosen art as their mode of elegance, they are all Beaux Arts men and for the most part they have carried on their studies together and in the same classes.”22 The prominence of L’École des beaux-arts was historically important in promoting

French standards of taste. The academy’s mission, to educate the most talented students in classical art, architecture, engraving, painting, and sculpture, remained a key focus even after independence was declared in 1863.23 Admission standards were highly

competitive. The elite network of L’École des beaux-arts graduates was instrumental in

establishing Paris as an artistic center. Graduates exhibited in Paris’s top salons and

expositions and contributed their considerable talents to the emerging fields of theatre

design, advertising, interior design, and fashion. The skill and confluence of artists,

couturiers, and writers living and working in Paris was instrumental in expressing a

French design aesthetic at the turn of the century. Lucien Vogel’s vision to create a

luxury publication that was a work of art would not have materialized without the formal

skills of Gazette du Bon Ton artists. These artists linked their considerable technical skills

with innovations in print technology to create a luxury publication on the leading edge of

22 “Beau Brummels,” Vogue, 35–37. 23 “ Les Missions de l’Ecole,” l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts, accessed May 10, 2018, https://www.beauxartsparis.fr.

20 fashion. The artists who filled the pages of Gazette du Bon Ton were distinguished as “a school flowered in which the students were all fine draftsmen with creative ability, they studied together at the Beaux Arts, and they expended their talents not on canvas alone but also on fashion and decoration.”24

Historically, reading and content creation were the dominion of educated elites.

In elevating Gazette du Bon Ton's literary status, Lucien Vogel reached out to Parisian intellectuals, writers, poets, historians, and art critics who provided the instructional guide to the ritual practices of an idealized French lifestyle. Part theatre guide, travelogue, lifestyle guide, and fashion publication, editorial content was infused with chatty,

intimate observations. Each issue,

French novelist, poet, essayist, and

art historian Jean-Louis Vaudoyer

penned “Lettre á une Provinciale,” a

letter to a friend, Agathe, with

Figure 10: Letter writing from established writers. observations about life, travel, and “Lettre a une Provinciale”, Jean-Louis Vaudoyer, Gazette du Bon Ton, February 1913, Courtesy of Smithsonian Libraries, GT.500.G35, 99-100. adventures outside Paris (Fig. 10).

He wrote, “it is not from Paris that I am writing but Venice, which is well worth it. I have been here for a week and will rest eight days more. I am in the bold landscape like the

25 happy paintings of Giorgione, a magnificent villa of Palladio architecture.” The wry observations shared an idealized lifestyle of garden parties, croquet matches, costume

24 Woolman Chase, Always in Vogue, 112. 25 Jean-Louis Vaudoyer, “Lettre á une Provinciale,” Gazette du Bon Ton, 1, no. 1 (November 1912): 5-8.

balls, and adventurous travels, providing a glimpse of acceptable social activity for elite

audiences. Art critics in Le Gout au Théâtre provided summaries of theatre productions,

interpreted storylines and accompanied sketches of set and costume design (Fig. 11).

Reporting on theatre productions

promoted the work of Gazette du

Bon Ton artists who designed theatre

sets for the Ballet Russes and

illustrated in theatre guides.

Figure 11: Reporting on theater. A.E. Marty, “Le Gout au Instructive articles focused on Theatre”, Gazette du Bon Ton, July 1914, Fashion Institute of Technology, TT.500.G35, 354-355 (Photograph by Michele Hopkins). appropriate fashion and social

protocols, such as what types of fabric may be worn during mourning periods or what is suitable to wear on a yacht. Travel articles included top destinations of the well-heeled in exotic locations, such as Pompeii and Morocco, with tutorials on appropriate clothing choices for climate and activity. Like its fashion predecessor, Journal des dames et des modes, Gazette du Bon Ton aspired to promote social order within its pages. Lucien

Vogel’s network collaborated in fulfilling his vision of a publication which branded a fashionable French lifestyle. The artistically interpreted designs, exclusive couturier fashions, and instructive written content established the luxury fashion publication as distinctively modern, yet distinctively French. In considering the vision of its impresario, the narrative of the complete publication must be considered.

In the publication’s first three years, 1912–1914, Gazette du Bon Ton published ten issues per year and sold as an annual subscription for 100 francs per year or 10 francs

per issue, the equivalent today of $457 per year or $47.50 per issue.26 The charging of

annual subscription fees dates to early print practices when material costs were

substantial and printers needed to offset expensive printing costs, namely that of paper.

The mandatory annual subscription fee charged to Gazette du Bon Ton subscribers may

speak to the expense of funding, producing, and selling a luxury publication.27 The

subscribers who could afford an annual subscription

fee of 100 francs per year, 110 francs outside of the

country (Fig.12) were likely limited to design firms,

couturier clients, and wealthy collectors. Paul Poiret

Figure 12: Subscription notice. distributed Les robes de Paul Poiret to couturier clients Gazette du Bon Ton, January 1914, Fashion Institute of Technology, gratis and the fashion folio was instrumental in selling TT.500.G35, (Photograph by Michele Hopkins). his design ideas. Gazette du Bon Ton may have been promoted as a fashion folio and design guide as well, printed in small runs and sold as exclusive limited editions. Luxury publications were marketed as exclusive works of art, decorative art objects available to a privileged few. The cost of the luxury publication created barriers to entry, signaling wealth and elite status. The substantial cost also limited audiences which may have contributed to the long-term viability of the publication. Lucien Vogel was well aware of Gazette du Bon Ton’s limitations in this

26 “Convertisseur franc-euro pouvoir d'achat et du franc,” Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques. France: Insee, 2017, accessed November 19, 2017, https://www.insee.fr/fr/information/2417794. 27 Research in locating subscriber lists and print run data were unsuccessful. Marianne Brown, archivist of the Vogue archives noted that the absence of written records prior to World War I was common and may be attributed to the mandatory appropriation of printed material by the French government due to paper shortages. Vogue Archives research visit Wednesday, June 6, 2018. 23

regard. In a September 1921 letter to Condé Nast, he wrote, “only the well-to-do classes

take subscriptions.”28

28 The quote was excerpted from a letter by Lucien Vogel to Condé Nast dated September 1921, Vogue Archives, Series I, Vogel Box 11, Folder 22, research visit on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. 24

Chapter 4: The Finest Print Materials

The material components of Gazette du Bon Ton provide a window on why the

per issue cost of the periodical publication was substantial. Lucien Vogel spared no

expense in producing a luxury publication of the finest material quality, from the unified

layout of design to the use of handmade Japanese vellum and innovative use of pochoir.

Each component spoke to his vision of the luxury fashion publication as an object of

material quality. He outlined these specific components in the promotional issue:

“Everything about it will please the eye, its paper, format, characters, texts, illustrations,

and the couturier's models.”29 His vision for Gazette du Bon Ton was rooted in historic

print processes yet applied to a modern design narrative.

The Arts and Craft movement was pivotal in the late nineteenth century in terms

of reviving historic print practices and

adapting these practices in creating luxury

publications as objects of material beauty

and utility30. These beautiful books were

influential in developing a leading-edge

Figure 13: Page layout of the beautiful book. design aesthetic with a nod to the past and Esther Pissarro, La Belle au bois dormant par Charles Perrault, London: Eragny Press,1899. an emphasis on the artistic connection of image to text (Fig. 13). These design influences were seen on the pages of Gazette du

29Weill, Parisian Fashion, 8. 30 The Ideal Book: Essays and Lectures on the Arts of the Book is an excellent reference of public talks and writings given by William Morris. The publication’s narrative provides the philosophical insight behind Morris’ creation of Kelmscott Press and the importance of early Arts and Crafts thinkers, such as Emery Walker, to the study of typographic layout and early illustration.

Bon Ton. The fashion publication was innovative in its integrated use of color and its

white space, which reflected the unity and simplicity of early modern design.

Earlier fashion publications such as

Journal des dames et des modes

separated text and image on the page.

This was due in large measure to

limitations in printing typeset content

Figure 14: Full page image and text. “Mascarades”, Gazette with hand-colored engravings. The du Bon Ton, February 1913, Courtesy of the Smithsonian Libraries, GT.500.G35, 118-119. processes were entirely different.31

Gazette du Bon Ton’s integration of color design and written content throughout the

publication was driven by cutting-edge advances in photomechanical reproductive print

technology (Fig. 14). Lucien Vogel was at the forefront of technologic innovation for his

time: this was a secret to his success as a visionary editor.

Decorative page design framed written content

replicating the hand-painted pages of

illuminated manuscripts and early printed

works (Figs. 15 and 16.) Ornamental initials,

or decorated letters, along with page headings Figure 15: left: Manuscript page decoration. Glazier-Rylands Bible, ca. 1260-1270, Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, 8986B; dictated the reading process and served as Figure 16: right: Publication page decoration. Gazette du Bon Ton, July 1914, Courtesy of the Smithsonian Libraries, GT.500.G35. graphic markers, a feature used since the

fourth-century which “pleased the eye,

31 This is an important factor to consider when exploring the separation of written content from hand- rendered images in the fashion publications of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Whether the separation was an editorial decision or a technical consideration is not fully understood and scholars should be careful in emphasizing display as the primary reason for image separation.

attracted attention and marked articulation.”32 Lucien Vogel used this identical language

Historic influence of foliated initials: Figure 17 pictured left; Figure 18 center; Figure 19 picture right. in promoting his vision for Gazette du

Bon Ton and his use

of foliated letters

and ornamental page

headings was a nod

to early manuscript

decoration (Figs. 17-19). The attention to unified page layout that flowed through Gazette

du Bon Ton was innovative for a fashion periodical publication and expressed the unity of

design emerging at the turn of the century. While Arts and Craft ideologies encouraged

manuscript techniques applied to hand-produced printed works, Art Nouveau fused historic practices with advances in commercial application pushing the boundaries of fine art and applied art.

Each monthly issue of Gazette du Bon Ton contained thirty pages of text and image

content and ten full-page folio plates inserted in the back. The practice of inserting hand- colored full-page art spoke of the division of labor required to produce distinctive works of beauty and technical virtuosity. Sandra Hindman and Douglas Farquhar in Pen and

Press, write of the practice of inserting folios as common even with the advent of

typesetting:

In order to facilitate bookmaking, many illustrated texts were planned with inserted folios. In this way, the respective tasks of scribe and miniaturist were no longer

32 Roxane Jubert, Typography and Graphic Design: From Antiquity to the Present (Paris: Flammarion, 2006), 28. 27

inextricably intertwined as they were when the miniaturist could not begin working on the folio until the scribe had transcribed the text and left a space for the miniature. The practice of inserting miniatures let the two jobs proceed independently. Selling detached miniatures to different centers of book production became a thriving commerce.33

The practice of highly skilled artists working across genres in producing full-page works

of art followed a long tradition of technical efficiency and commercial viability. Gazette

du Bon Ton artists worked across genres and their work was featured in theatre guides,

poster advertising, and periodical publications. Hand-colored fashion illustrations inserted

as folio pages differentiated luxury publications from mass publications and branded

Gazette du Bon Ton as a work of art. Following in the tradition of Galerie des Modes and

Journal des dames et des modes, the use of hand-produced art branded Gazette du Bon Ton

as a distinctively French fashion publication. Lucien Vogel and Gazette du Bon Ton were

at the center of pochoir innovation in 1912. Pochoir was the natural progression of French

stencil illustration and a brief history of stencil development is important in understanding

how the French leveraged the technique into a fine art form in the early twentieth century.

In his book Stencil Type, Steven Hiller wrote that stenciling was a medium that

“conveys social, political and cultural messages.”34 The history of stencil technique

predated the development of paper and the written word. The ancient craft crossed

geographic and cultural boundaries and signaled the human desire to communicate beyond

face to face interaction. The October 8, 2014, issue of National Geographic dated the

discovery of hand stencils and animal paintings in Sulawesi, Indonesia, as the world’s

33 Sandra Hindman and James Douglas Farquhar, Pen to Press: Illustrated Manuscripts and Printed Books in the First Century of Printing (College Park: University of Maryland, 1977), 27–28. 34 Steven Heller and Louise Fili, Stencil Type (New York: Thames & Hudson, 2016), 6.

oldest rock art at 39,900 years old.35 The stenciled hands and animal figures found in the

caves of Sulawesi represented the pairing of

text and image to foster a complex set of ideas

(Fig. 20).

The ancient art of woodblock printing with

stencils dates to the Western Han dynasty, 206

Figure 20: “Cave Paintings in Indonesia Redraw 36 Picture of Earliest Art”. National Geographic, BCE–23 CE. The Chinese may have been the October 8, 2014, 6. 2014/10/141008-cave-art-sulawesi-hand-science. first to create cut patterns and stencil designs on (Photograph by Maxine Aubert) paper and textiles. Japanese artisans adopted this practice and further developed the

technique over time. European acknowledgement of the origin of stenciling was noted in

the 1900 article “Design for Stencil-Work” by George Rigby in The Artist: An Illustrated

Monthly Record of the Arts, Crafts, and Industries: “the Japanese do not appear to be the

inventors of stencil techniques, yet they bring the deftness, manipulation and remarkable

ingenuity of Japanese art to the stencil technique.”37 Rigby credited the importation of the

tools and techniques of stenciling to Dutch and Portuguese traders of the early modern

period, who had the most contact with Japan among Europeans. It was more likely,

however, that knowledge of this particular Asian stencil technique came to Europe in the

fourteenth or fifteenth century by way of the Silk Road around the same time as Chinese

paper.38

35 Dan Vergano, “Cave Paintings in Indonesia Redraw Picture of Earliest Art,” National Geographic, October 8, 2014, 6, accessed date April 20, 2018, https:/news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141008. 36 Jubert, Typography and Graphic Design, 34. 37 George R. Rigby, “Design for Stencil Work,” The Artist: An Illustrated Monthly Record of the Arts, Crafts and Industries, Vol. 28, No. 247, (1900): 160. 38 Jubert, 34-35.

Stencil techniques developed around the fifteenth century in France and were seen

on everyday objects. A set of playing cards from Lyon feature designs created from a

single sheet woodcut with an application of colored

pigment stenciled over the base design (Fig. 21). Playing

cards were popular in the fourteenth through the sixteenth

centuries in Europe. Subject matter ranged from biblical

scenes and moral verses to instructional cards and

monarchical propaganda. Artistic detail and color quality Figure 21: Early French stencil. Gilles Savoure, Woodcut Playing Card, ca. 1500, Courtesy of the varied greatly. Nobility and commoners commissioned Victoria and Albert Museum, woodcut E988-1920. playing cards for use. Wealthier patrons collected playing

cards for display as miniature works of art. Playing cards were drawn by important artists

of the day, such as Peter Flötner and

Joost Amman.39 These formally trained artists created both fine art and popular art, working across genres of commercial production. Stencil practices passed through generations of Figure 22: Stencil cut-outs from Epinal, France. Artist Unknown, Pantins Pierrot, ca. 1875, pochoir, Courtesy of Les Collection du Musee de l’image, Villa Epinal, French craftsman. Playing cards were D996.1.4772B. the precursor to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century stenciling. French villages, such as

Épinal, became known for producing show cards and cutouts of technical precision and refinement. The development of synthetic dyes expanded the color palette significantly

(Fig. 22).

39 Laura Smoller, “Playing Cards and Popular Culture in Sixteenth Century Nuremberg,” The Sixteenth Century Journal, Volume XVIII, no. 2 (Summer 1986): 183-185. 30

Stenciling offered a unique way to layer color, create pattern, and add dimension. The

application of stencil techniques developed commercially throughout the nineteenth

century as reproductive technologies improved. Stencil techniques were an important mass

communication tool in political populist movements as French governments shifted in and

out of favor.40 Lucien Vogel’s father, Hermann, was an accomplished German-trained artist and illustrator who

emigrated to Paris where work was plentiful. He illustrated

for L’Assiette du Buerre sketching full-page political caricatures (Fig. 23) and for theatre publications Théâtre

Illustrée and Le Monde Illustré. Lucien Vogel was raised in Figure 23: Nineteenth-century caricature. a household steeped in the persuasive language of Hermann Vogel, L’Assiette au Beurre, November 15, 1902, Courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale nineteenth-century illustration. In living through the de France, gallica.bnr.fr. expansion of periodical publishing and the influence of illustrated images set against powerful written content, Lucien Vogel witnessed the increasing social power of editors in driving change.

Steven Heller wrote in Stencil Type that stenciling became “the darling of the early modernists in creating the visual illusion of seeing through letter shapes and increasing legibility from a distance, and in creating the illusion of breaks and channels in representing the speed of industrial innovation.”41 Stenciling expanded into commercial forms of

typography throughout the latter part of the nineteenth century and trained artists

experimented with ornamental and typographic motifs. As advertising moved to larger

40 Heller, Stencil Type, 6. 41 Heller, Stencil Type, 6.

platforms, formally trained artists pushed the boundaries of stenciling and illustration. In

Paris, stenciling became the language of the streets as fine artists embraced the medium

and experimented with its capabilities.

In applying ancient stencil techniques in innovative

ways, early modernists created a new visual

language that encompassed illustration and art (Fig.

24). In France, Paris was the artistic center and

stenciling became a “weapon in the aesthetic

revolution against traditional art.”42 Pochoir was the

Figure 24: Poster illustration as modern art. natural progression of stencil illustration. Ateliers Cheret, Specimens d’affiches artistiques, 1896, color lithograph, Van The opening of Japanese ports in 1853 ignited Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. fascination and nostalgia for a culture untouched by industrial production. The world expositions heightened interest in the ancient craft of Japanese printing. Japan’s first Arts

and Crafts exhibition at the 1867 Exposition

Universelle de Paris exposed large crowds

of Europeans to Japanese artistic traditions.

The interest and study of Japanese decorative

art, particularly paper art and katagami Figure 25: Finely stenciled katagami iris pattern. Katagami Japanese Stencils in the (stenciling) was introduced during a time of collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, 1979, Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution, expansive growth in publishing and 1976-103-290, 26.

illustration. Katagami required a highly skilled hand to produce the delicate patterns carved

on thin waterproofed mulberry paper (Fig. 25.)

42 Heller, 156.

Katagami stencils were tied together with silk fibers and a dozen sheet designs

could be cut at a time, producing finer line and greater variation when pigment was

applied.43 French stencils were thicker, made from recycled shoe leather, paper board, or

sheets of copper. Japanese and French stenciling methods

produced remarkably different results. The Japanese

method of katagami created texture through finely carved

stencil designs; the French method of pochoir created

texture through the layered application and manipulation

of color (Fig. 26). Fine artists and colorists of the early Figure 26: French stencil design. Jean Saude, Traite d’enluminure d’art au pochoir, 1925, Paris, twentieth century experimented with pochoir raising the Editions de L’Ibis, NYPDL b13963780, plate IX. stencil technique to a high-art form in the early twentieth century.

Lucien Vogel’s use of pochoir throughout Gazette du Bon Ton was groundbreaking.

In 1912 pochoir was in its nascent stage, and the use of this intensive stenciling technique was ambitious for a fashion periodical. Pochoir was well suited to selling luxury goods and the luxury publication. Figure 27: Wet look of pochoir. Pigment was applied in layers, producing strong George Lepaper, “Ombrelles”, Gazette du Bon Ton, April 1913, Courtesy of the Smithsonian Libraries, GT.500.G384, no. 6, blocks of color with raised surface elevations. When Pl. III, (Photograph by Michele Hopkins). thickly applied, color was wet and glossy (Fig 27).

There was no other medium at the time that could produce the beauty of pochoir. The process of layering color mirrored the experimentation of the Impressionists. Both

43 Rigby, “Stencil Work,” 160.

techniques pushed the boundaries of color application in innovative and modern design.

Early twentieth-century artists were bending the rules, and in doing so, creating national

design narratives connected to visual culture.

Interest in Japanese paper was linked to decorative art production. The Chinese

were credited with introducing papermaking to Japan via Korea in 1610.44 The Japanese

Imperial court encouraged the development of papermaking as an important form of

artistic expression and national identity. Interest in Japanese paper preceded the 1854

opening of Japanese ports, and paper was collected as early as 1605 by European

diplomats and travelers and studied as an industrial commodity.45 A Japan Paper

Company catalogue produced in 1916

advertised a sample of “Number Three weight

Japanese vellum” for use in deluxe books, the

name for elite publications used at the turn of Figure 28: Catalog page describing number three weight vellum. Samples of Handmade Japanese Vellum from the Shidzuoka Mill, 1916, Japan Paper the century (Fig. 28). Japanese vellum was an Company, New York, Philadelphia, https://archive.org/details/samplesofhandmad00japa. important material used in luxury

publications and remained an important export product for Japan into the early twentieth

century.

Japanese vellum’s scarcity raised its cachet as a luxury commodity. James

DeYoung noted in “Observations on Papers” in the German Expressionists Prints

44 Pauline Webber, "The Parkes Collection of Japanese Paper", Victoria and Albert Museum, accessed May 3, 2018, https:/www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/conservation-journal/issue-15/the-parkes-collection-of- japanese-paper. 45 Webber, "Parkes Collection."

Collection of Marcia and Granvil Specks that scarcity accounted for Japanese vellum’s use in small editions.46 Laid vellum, or papier vergé (ribbed paper) was a labor-intensive handmade paper process. Pulp was laid in molds of thin bamboo, wire, or reed rods

forming horizontal and vertical chains

visible when held up to the light.47 Paper

chains were tighter vertically than

horizontally providing strength and

durability. Papier vergé was used in early Figure 29: Papier vergé, Pierre de la Mésangère, Journal des dames et des modes, 1801, Courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale de France, gallica.bnf.fr. French fashion publications such as

L’Extraordinaire du Mercure galant and Journal des dames et des modes (Fig. 29). The

strength and durability of Japanese vellum ensured works would last over time. Owning

publications printed with handmade Japanese vellum was a sign of wealth and status.

Lucien Vogel’s choice of the same paper as L’Extraordinaire du Mercure galant and

Journal des dames et des mode was indicative of his emphasis on the material quality of

the luxury publication. Papier vergé was not commonly used in printing early twentieth-

century publications.48

Each issue throughout Gazette du Bon Ton’s six-year run was printed on papier

vergé. Papier vergé had a weighted hand which spoke to the expense and quality of the

publication. Examination of original 1912–1914 Gazette du Bon Ton papier vergé print

46 Stephanie D’Alessandro, “Handmade Japanese Paper,” in German Expressionist Prints: the Marcia and Granvil Specks Collection, James DeYoung editor, (Manchester, Vermont: Hudson Hills Press, 2004), 264. 47 Josep Asuncion, The Complete Book of Papermaking (New York: Lark Books, 2001), 26–27. 48 An examination of the recent acquisition by the Library of Congress of 1913 original print run issues of Journal des dames et des mode did show that ribbed paper was used in printing. My research only found the two fashion periodical publications printed on papier vergé. 35 runs yielded paper in remarkably good condition, with few tears and minimal foxing.

When pochoir was applied to papier vergé, the high and low surfaces of the paper produced an extraordinary range of texture and dimension. Full-page pochoir were inserted as single folio sheets in the back of the publication. The unbound cover, bifolio pages, and pochoir folio inserts spoke to the production limitations in producing a hand-colored luxury publication. Another interesting feature of the loosely bound publication was the user’s

ability to remove single sections and

pages for reading, study, and display (Fig.

30). Each material element of Gazette du

Bon Ton was considered carefully as a

complete narrative.

Figure 30: Bifolio Pages, Lucien Vogel, Gazette du Bon Ton, Tome 1912/1913, Fashion Institute of Technology, Lucien Vogel’s attention to each detail - TT.500.G35, (Photograph by Michele Hopkins). from the use of ornamental page headings to foliated initials, decorative page layout, handmade paper, and folio full-page fashion designs - when paired with the innovative use of pochoir and the unified textual and visual color quality of the complete publication, pushed the boundaries of the periodical publication and revolutionized the presentation of fashion. Visionaries such as Lucien

Vogel linked historic print practices with advances in reproductive print and publishing technologies to enhance the material quality of the luxury publication.

Chapter 5: The Development of the French Publishing Industry

France played a prominent role in the early years of European publishing and set the stage for the expansion of the industry in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The monarchy’s institutionalization of publishing guidelines and subsequent influence of eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century publishing houses promoted a national style of

French publication, a practice that was influential in the development of Gazette du Bon

Ton. Late nineteenth century publishers produced publications for increasingly specialized audiences. The relationship between editor Lucien Vogel and publisher

Librairie centrale des beaux-arts provides important clues about publication placement and marketing. Analyzing Librairie centrale des beaux-arts catalogue provides further insight into the readership Lucien Vogel targeted. Librairie centrale played an influential role in transmitting the shift in design aesthetic which began in the late nineteenth century. Their distinctive publications branded historic French artistic and cultural prominence. France played an important early role with Paris at the center of early publishing activity.

In the colophon of Epistolae, the first printed publication in 1470 France, author

Gasparino Barzizza paid tribute to typesetting’s origin when he wrote, “accept that almost divine art, which Germany invented of artificial writing.”49 Typesetting revolutionized print practices by increasing publication availability, expanding audiences, and loosening social control. France played an important early role with Paris at the

49 Jubert, Typography and Graphic Design, 53.

center of early publishing activity. In 1537, Francis I issued the Ordonnance de

Montpellier which required French publishers to provide a copy of each printed book to

the royal library at Château Royal de Blois.50 The ordonnance instituted the formation of

the Royal Library as a symbol of France’s intellectual and cultural dominance in Europe.

The ordonnance also signaled the beginning of royal censorship and control of French

publishing content. The monarchy’s desire to control content spoke to the power of

printed publications in challenging social norms. Michael Melot in The Art of Illustration

describes the “illustrated book as being less a place of harmony than of contention and

rivalry.”51 Melot’s quote represents the idea that printed works express a specific point of

view which is neither neutral nor objective. The construction of social order was carefully

considered during the reign of Francis I and his goal to control what the French read

filtered through the Ordonnance de Montpellier.

In 1631 the first French publication, La Gazette, was published as an “organ of

the monarchy.”52 The dedication to the king was placed prominently on the cover and

spoke of the shift in social control from the church to the monarchy. In 1640 Louis XIV

set up the Imprimerie Royale and dedicated the first royal typeface. In 1648, Cardinal

Richelieu established the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture and imposed

publishing guidelines by way of royal authority.53 Publishing guidelines standardized

print practices and branded French publications with a distinct visual appearance. The

institutionalization of publishing style guides played an important role in unifying French

50 “Dawn of Western Printing, Chronological Table on the History of Incunabula,” National Diet Library, accessed June 10, 2018, https:/ndl.go.jp/incunabula/e/chronology. 51 Melot, The Art of Illustration, 195. 52 Jubert, Typography and Graphic Design, 63. 53 Jubert, 67.

standards of taste and the power of the monarchy within the country and abroad. French

publications were identifiable by their specific fonts, cover layout and typesetting style

(Fig. 31). As the monarchy’s influence declined in the late

eighteenth century, France remained at the center of print

production under the control of family publishing houses.

France continued to sell printed publications throughout

major European cities where wealth, education, and

Figure 31: Cover page from first commerce were increasingly concentrated. Publishing was French publication. Theophraste Renavdot, La Gazette, 1631, Courtesy of Bibliothèque a family business and knowledge of practices passed nationale de France. generationally and through marriage. The standardization

of publishing guidelines providing continuity during a time of political and social change.

Firmin-Didot Frères was an example of an influential French family publisher active in

Paris from the mid-eighteenth through the nineteenth century. Dana Hart, manager of

Library Administration for the Thomas J. Watson Library wrote that Firmin-Didot Frères

was a “family of French printers, punch-cutters, and publishers renowned for their

illustrated editions of the classics. The former was illustrated by some of the most

respected artists of the day, providing a wide audience with access to images that had

only ever been available to those privileged few, who had access to royal palaces and

aristocratic chateaus."54 Firmin-Didot Frères bridged the gap between an expanding

literate wealthy industrial class who sought to distinguish themselves by collecting and

displaying material objects of luxury and the production of beautiful printed works of art.

The publisher hired well-known artists to illustrate classic works, a practice dating to

54 Dana Hart, “Firmin-Didot: A French Legacy,” The Met In Circulation, (June 10, 2015):2, accessed April 24, 2018, https:/www.metmuseum.org/blogs/in-circulation/2015/firmin-didot. 39 early printed works and fashion publications. Firmin-Didot Frères produced a catalogue of "elegant collectible books, hoping to bring glory to the family name, meant to be admired and appreciated as objects of art, not simply picked up and read."55

As post-revolutionary France struggled through shifts in political leadership, publishers played an increasingly powerful role in facilitating social dialogue through printed works. The industrial revolution created an upwardly mobile class of elites interested in displaying their wealth and social status through the possession of decorative objects of luxury and beauty, much like their aristocratic and noble predecessors. The printed publication reflected the political, social, and economic shifts taking place in nineteenth-century Paris. Publishers were powerful voices as audiences expanded. On July

29, 1881, the 1537 Ordonnance de Montpellier was repealed, and French law declared

“printing and bookselling as free with no prior authorization.”56 For the first time in French history, publishers had the freedom to produce content with no restrictions. The publishing expansion of the late nineteenth century was partially attributed to the French repeal. Of equal or greater importance were innovations in reproductive print technologies that intersected with the commercial application of fine and applied art. Publishers, artists, and editors collaborated in reproducing works of exceptional quality. In doing so, they played an influential role in developing design narratives expressing the promise of a new century.

Publisher Librairie centrale des beaux-arts played a central role in the creation of a catalogue expressing this leading-edge design aesthetic. Understanding Lucien Vogel’s connection to Librairie centrale des beaux-arts is important in placing Gazette du Bon

55 Dana Hart, “Firmin-Didot: A French Legacy”, accessed April 24, 2018. 56 Jubert, Typography and Graphic Design, 106.

Ton alongside the exquisitely produced, influential fine art, decorative art, and design guides of their time. The first issue of Gazette du Bon Ton was published in 1912 by

Librairie centrale des beaux-arts. The Lévy family business, much like Firmin-

Didot Frères, spanned three generations of librarian-editors. Librairie centrale des beaux- arts produced folio-style publications from 1864 to1933. Maud Allera, in her article for

Les Cahiers de l’École du Louvre, credited the Lévy family with "specializing in works of the history of art and decorative art and producing major works at the turn of the century necessary in understanding the decorative arts movement.”57 The Lévys maintained the tradition of producing luxury publications for elite audiences and their catalogue reflected the development of fine art and decorative art commercially over a successful sixty-nine-year period.

Émile Lévy (1861-1916) was influential in developing the technology to transmit the shift in design aesthetic. The reproductive print mediums at the turn of the century were limited to two: color lithography and photography. Color lithography was not able to predictably control color tone and saturation, an issue in fine art and luxury reproduction. Photography was, at the time, a black and white medium with limited commercial application. In the late nineteenth century, Émile Lévy began experimenting with intermediary photomechanical print processes and developed the technology to reproduce fine art of exceptional quality. Librairie centrale des beaux-arts established a catalogue of folio luxury publications on French history, architecture, fine art, decorative art, and exposition and museum catalogues. Gazette du Bon Ton was one of only two

57 Maud Allera, “La Photographie à La Librairie Centrale Des Beaux-Arts – Éditions Albert Lévy (1906- 1936).” Les Cahiers de l’École du Louvre, no. 10, (2017): 1-3, doi:10.4000/cel.545. 41 periodical publications published by Librairie centrale des beaux-arts. Lucien Vogel formed the creative core of Librairie centrale des beaux-arts’ early expertise.

Émile Lévy was credited with developing the photography laboratory at the

Musée des Arts Décoratifs in 1915, one year before his tragic death in World War I.58

When the war began in 1914, Émile Lévy was sent to the front lines and captured. Maud

Allera in her article, “La Photographie à La Librairie Centrale des Beaux-Arts – Éditions

Albert Lévy” referenced the receipt of a December 15, 1915 letter from Émile Lévy to his nephew, Albert Lévy. In the letter, Émile promised, "a good future in art editions" and encouraged Albert to continue the business with the assistance of "his trusted associates."59 Lucien Vogel was mentioned as one of the associates. He had worked closely with Émile Lévy when he was art director of the 1898 periodical publication, Art

et décoration. Art et décoration was

the first of only two periodical

publications published by Librairie

centrale. The 1912 Gazette du Bon

Ton was the other. Art et décoration

Figure 32: Article fusing design motifs and decorative art. was a decorative art and architectural Art et decoration, January-June 1899, Ink on wove Paper, Fashion Institute of Technology, N2A45.1899. publication merging historic decorative and fine art practices with Art Nouveau’s ornamental design narratives (Fig. 32). The placement of Art et décoration and Gazette du Bon Ton within the genre of Librairie

58 Allera, Les Cahiers de l’École du Louvre, 1–2. 59 Allera, 2.

42 centrale des beaux-arts publications spoke to the innovative editorial vision in elevating decorative art and fashion periodical publications as works of art and design guides.

The Librairie centrale des beaux-arts catalogue produced artist-rendered folio style luxury publications on French history, architecture, fine art, decorative art, and exposition and museum catalogues. The breakdown of publication types their sixty-nine- year history featured; twenty-three decorative art and design guides, twelve museum catalogues, ten artist books (select works not catalogue raisonné,) seven exposition catalogues, two history guides, two periodical publications, one historic costume guide, one encyclopedia, and one weekly newspaper of political and literary speeches

(Appendix B). Early publications focused on exposition guides and the application of ornamental motifs in industrial design, both instrumental in promoting Art Nouveau. The unified appearance of Librairie centrale des beaux-arts publications easily identified the publisher’s work and spoke to the historic importance, developed in the early years of

French publishing, and use of specifically French typefaces, such as Didot and Bodoni, and standard compositional layout.

(Fig. 33).

The French were innovative in applying fine and decorative art commercially. Émile and Albert Figure 33: Early publications of Librairie centrale des beaux-arts. Lévy, along with their trusted team of associates, were at the forefront in transmitting the shift in design aesthetic in the early twentieth century and producing influential publications as design guides. A study of Librairie centrale des beaux-arts publications produced over their sixty-nine-year history reflects the transition from Art Nouveau to

Art Deco. Publication content shifted from the early years of Parisian exposition guides and Art Nouveau design guides to artist books and decorative art guides that became Art

Deco in the 1920s and 1930s. Librairie centrale des beaux-arts played an influential role in developing this modern design aesthetic. Their distinctive publications branded

France’s artistic and cultural prominence. Lucien Vogel was part of this influential and innovative core of early modernists who bridged Art Nouveau and Art Deco. His connection with Librairie centrale des beaux-arts was instrumental in creating Gazette du

Bon Ton, a fashion periodical publication placed among the expensive, artistically produced, influential design guides and works of art of their time. Gazette du Bon Ton’s placement within the catalogue was unusual and the periodical was the only fashion publication produced during Librairie centrale des beaux-arts’s history. The French maintained their cultural and economic dominance throughout the early twentieth-century exporting luxury decorative arts and promoting standards of taste. Gazette du Bon Ton’s fit within the genre of early twentieth century fashion publications speaks of an idealized

French lifestyle. Its influence in elevating fashion as an art form was important and

Lucien Vogel was an editor of power and vision.

Chapter 6: Conclusion

Francis Bacon attributed printing, along with gunpowder and the magnetic compass, as one of the inventions that changed the appearance and state of the world.60

Printed works transmitted ideas beyond geographic borders and expressed the political and economic power of emerging nations. The complex arrangement of stenciled hands and figural images first seen in ancient rock art spoke to the sequencing and ordering of the world and established distinct narratives. The ability to convey complex sets of ideas fostered the development of text and image and the relationship between them has developed over millennia. Printed works promoted political, social, and cultural identity.

The early introduction of fashion reporting and illustrations into albums and collections fostered France’s sense of emerging global identity. Patricia Mainardi in

Another World writes, “Imagery of the world’s peoples and their cultures functioned to instill the earliest sense both of globalism and of cultural particularity.”61 The mission in creating French identity and standards of taste, which was emphasized in the seventeenth century, was grounded in economic stability and political prominence. Print culture played a prominent role. The nineteenth century ushered in one hundred years of political, economic, and social change. Industrial innovation represented the loosening of traditional centers of power. Editors were increasingly powerful in facilitating the dialogue fusing visual images with written content. Michel Melot describes the role of the nineteenth-century editor “between the writer and the illustrator, there now stood a judge whose pronouncements were final.”62 Gazette du Bon Ton was the vision of one man and

60 Lynda Shaffer, “China, Technology, and Change,” World History Bulletin, Fall/Winter, (1986/87): 1-2. 61 Mainardi, Another World, 244. 62 Melot, The Art of Illustration, 151.

his reflection of the profound political and cultural shifts taking place in Paris in the early

twentieth century. Lucien Vogel carefully considered each element of Gazette du Bon

Ton, positioning the publication as an influential fashion periodical reflecting historic print practices. His narrative spoke of a modern French standard of taste that was culturally endowed and historically distinct. Vogel elevated the fashion publication to a luxury work of art reflecting the unity and harmony of design at the dawn of the twentieth century.

The vision of Lucien Vogel and the placement of Gazette du Bon Ton within the catalogue of Librairie centrale des beaux-arts publications provides a far more complete picture of the luxury fashion publication and its influence than the study of an individual fashion plate, or single artist. With regard to Gazette du Bon Ton, it is exceedingly rare to find original print runs of the publication. The study of hardbound issues of Gazette du

Bon Ton challenges the viewer to consider Lucien Vogel’s vision and the placement of

the publication as a unified work of art

expressing important design narratives

of the early twentieth century. The

publication was designed as an

Figure 34: Original print-run issue cover. Lucien Vogel, Gazette du Bon Ton, Fashion Institute of Technology, unbound art folio which meant that TT.500.G35, (Photograph by Michele Hopkins). sections could be removed for study and further examination (Fig. 34). It is hard to say if display was an intended consequence of this particular format. Pages were removed from original issues and collected. Original issues were meant to be examined closely, the manageable page count per issue, the simple folded cover, the physical size of the issue, the unified color layout, and the quality of the ribbed paper speak to the vision of Lucien

Vogel in creating an interactive

luxury publication which was a

work of art. There is a visual

tactile quality to Gazette du Bon

Ton that can only be

Figure 35: Close-up of layered color and metallic ink. experienced by closely Charles Martin, “Pomme aux Levres”, Gazette du Bon Ton, February 1913, Fashion Institute of Technology, TT.500.G35. No. 4, Plate VI. (Photograph by Michele Hopkins). interacting with the publication.

The penetration of layered color, the sophisticated brush techniques, and the subtle application of metallic pigments are imperceptible unless pages are viewed closely with good lighting (Fig. 35). The user-experience in viewing original print run covers and hardbound issues is remarkably different.

The hardbinding of multiple Gazette du Bon Ton’s issues has strained the pages of original print-run issues originally inserted as bifolio and single folio pages. The bound issues are thick, making them unwieldy to handle and difficult to leaf through. Stitching runs through original pages resulted in pulling and tearing where the

binding meets the page (Fig. 36). The condition of Figure 36: Pulled stitching and paper degradation from hardbound issues. Lucien ribbed paper in the hardbound issues of Gazette du Vogel, Gazette du Bon Ton, 1912/1913, Courtesy of the Bon Ton is in worse shape than original print-run Smithsonian Libraries, GT.500.G384, (Photograph by Michele Hopkins). issues with more foxing, stains, and some water damage. This may speak to the storage methods of hardbound issues and the users who may have interacted with these later hard-bound issues. Hardbinding was not a common practice for luxury publications at

the time. In addition, original folio page sizes varied slightly when they were produced,

which was not an issue with

original print-run covers made of

folded heavy paper stock designed

to accommodate the variance. The

uniformity of page size required in Figure 37: Cut page bottom and glued pochoir. Lucien Vogel, Gazette du Bon Ton, 1912/1913, Cooper Hewitt Collection, Courtesy of the Smithsonian Libraries, GT.500.G384. hardbinding has resulted in (Photograph by Michele Hopkins) original pochoir page bottom edges being cut and damaged (Fig. 37). This diminishes our ability to study the publication as it was originally envisioned.

The separation and cataloguing of individual pochoir folio pages has removed important sections of original Gazette du Bon Ton publications from rare book libraries to print, photograph, and drawing collections. Many individual pochoir are inserted in mylar and plastic sleeves which cannot be removed and may have damaged original artwork.

Mylar sleeves and exhibition mounts inhibit the close examination of the material quality of the luxury publication and present challenges when photographing individual publication pochoir. The classification of Gazette du Bon Ton pochoir as ephemera and individual fashion plates limits the study of their influence within larger editorial narratives. Future scholarship should include efforts to merge these disparate elements together as complete publications when possible. At the very least, scholars should understand when viewing individual fashion plates that contextual analysis is complete only when the complete publication is considered. Gazette du Bon Ton was a fashion

publication envisioned by its creator as a luxury publication which expressed a distinct narrative only understood when placed in the context of its time.

Lucien Vogel was the creator, the “impresario . . . who caused the airy fancies to materialize.”63 His distinctive vision for Gazette du Bon Ton was influential in preserving

French fashion and cultural identity during a time of profound social change. Gazette du

Bon Ton was an early innovator in pochoir’s development and the use of color harmony and unified design. These three important design ideas set the stage for Art Deco’s full integration into commercial design. Lucien Vogel’s legacy in maintaining French national identity and standards of taste lasted long after Gazette du Bon Ton published its final issue. He remained at the forefront of innovative publication design until his death in 1954. And, that is a story that still needs to be told.

63 “Beau Brummels of the Brush,” 36.

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Appendix A

Appendix B

Librairie centrale des beaux- arts Publications

Editor/Auth Date Genre or Sculptures décoratives: motifs Daniel 1864 Décoratifs d’ornementation I and II Ramée Meubles religieux et civils conserves dans les Daniel 1864 Museum principaux monuments et musée d’Europe Ramée Catalogue

Plan du rez-de-chaussée de l’hôtel de 1866 Architecture Carnavalet La serrurerie au XIX siècle Antoni 1875 Architecture Sanguineti L’Architecture au salon: art antique, moyen Albert Fabre 1872 Architecture age, renaissance, projets Paris, Chemins de fer metropolitains Louis Heuze 1879 Architecture

Costume historiques de femmes Edmond 1889 Fashion Lechavallier- Chevignard La céramique musicale et instrumentale 1889 Décoratifs

Une Oeuvre inédite de Luca Della Robbia Eugène 1898 Décoratifs Grasset La plante et ses application ornementales Eugène 1898 Décoratifs Grasset

Écoles et maries: recueil des principaux types Henri 1898 de bâtiments scolaires Labrouste De la gravure d’ornements Georges 1900 Décoratifs Duplessis

Le pavillon historique de la Hongrie a 1900 Exposition l’exposition Catalogue Broderies des paysanne de Smolensk Marie 1900 Museum Tenichev Catalogue

La Collection Kelekian. Etoffes et tapis 1900 Museum d’Orient Catalogue Michel Columbe Sculpture française de son Paul Vitry 1901 Artist Book temps

Le Premier livre des cachet, marques, et 1901 Artist Book monogrammes, dessines, par George Auriol

Exposition rétrospective de l’art français 1901 Exposition Catalogue Exposition rétrospective de l'art français des Emilie 1901 Exposition origines a1800 Molinier Catalogue Donation de M Le Baron Rothschild Emilie 1902 Museum Catalogue Molinier Catalogue Étude de la plante son application aux M P Verneuil 1903 D´coratifs industries d’art Guide explicatif du Musée Carnavelet Georges 1903 Museum Caen Catalogue Recueil de décorations Intérieures J François 1904 D´coratifs Boucher L'Exposition des primitifs français Henri 1904 Exposition Bouchot Catalogue Methode de composition ornementale Vol 1 Eugene 1905 Décoratifs and 2 Grasset

Mucha: Figures décoratifs 1905 Décoratifs

Leçons sur l'Histoire de l'Art Lucien 1906 Museum Magne Catalogue

L'Art de regarder les tableaux 1906 Architecture

Le Censeur politique et littéraire weekly J Ernest- 1907 Political Charles La Collection Dutuit: 100 planches Wilhelm 1908 Exposition reproduisant les principales oeurves d’art Fröhner Catalogue exposées au Petit Palais des Champs-Élysées Le Portrait en France a la cour des Valois Vol Catalogue 1908 Museum 1 Catalogue

Le Portrait en France a la cour des Valois Vol 1908 Museum 2 Catalogue

Édme Bouchardon 1910 Artist Book

Bronzes of the Renaissance: Collection of J 1910 Museum Pierpont Morgan Vol 1 Catalogue

Bronzes of the Renaissance: Collection of J 1910 Museum Pierpont Morgan Vol 2 Catalogue

Chantilly Crayons français du XVI siècle Catalogue 1910 Museum Catalogue Degas: L'Art de Notre Temps P A 1911 Artist Book Lemoisne Daumier: L'Art de Notre Temps Leon 1911 Artist Book Rosenthal La Chinoiserie en Europe au XVIII Jacques 1911 Décoratifs Guérin Carpeaux: L'Art de Notre Temps Paul Vitry 1912 Artist Book

Daubigny: L'Art de Notre Temps Jean Laran 1912 Artist Book

Augustin Pajou Henri Stein 1912 Artist Book

Gustave Moreau: L'Art de Notre Temps 1912 Artist Book

Millet: L'Art de Notre Temps Julien Cain 1913 Artist Book

La Cathédrale de Reims Étienne 1915 Architecture Moreau- Nélaton Fine -Arts French Section Catalogue Panama Catalogue 1915 Exposition Pacific International Exposition San Francisco Catalogue 1915 Formes et couleurs: vingt planches en Auguste 1921 Décoratifs couleurs contenant soixante-sept motifs Thomas décoratifs Soieries Marocaines les ceintures des Fes Lucien Vogel 1921 Encyclopedic

Encyclopedie de l'ornement: recueil de 120 1924 Décoratifs planches Variations Édouard 1924 Décoratifs Bénédictus Intérieurs I: Pierre Chareau, Francis Jourdain, Léon 1924 Décoratifs J Ruhlmann Süe et Mare Moussinac Intérieurs II: Dominique, Dufrêne, René Léon 1924 Décoratifs Gabriel, André Groult Moussinac Intérieurs III Léon 1924 Décoratifs Moussinac Étoffes iImprimées et papiers peints Léon 1924 Décoratifs Moussinac

Croquis de Ruhlmann Présentés par Léon Léon 1924 Decoratifs Moussinac Moussinac L'Art décoratif français 1918-1925 Vol 1 Léon 1925 Décoratifs Deshairs Tapis Turcs provenant des Englises et Jules de 1925 Museum Collections de Transylvanie ouvrage publie Végh Catalogue sous les auspices du Musée Hongrois des art décoratifs Le Jardin et la maison Arabes au Maroc Jean Gallotti 1926 Décoratifs

Orfèvrerie civile française du XVI au début du Henri Nocq 1927 History XIX Siècle 2 Vols Cent planches en couleurs D’Art Musulman: Raymond 1928 Décoratifs Céramique, tissus, tapis Koechlin Nouvelle variations: soixante-quinze motifs Édouard 1928 Décoratifs décoratifs en vingt planches Bénédictus Nouvelle Boutiques façades and intérieurs René 1929 Architecture Chavance Répertoire du gout moderne No 3 Anon. 1929 Décoratifs

Contribution a l’etude des armes orientales P Holstein 1931 History Inde et archipel Malais

Trente ans de gravure 1900-1933 musée des 1933 Exposition arts décoratifs Catalogue

Art et décoration 1898–1919 Periodical

Gazette du Bon Ton 1912–1922 Lucien Vogel 1912–1914 Periodical