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 ©2018 by Michele L. Hopkins All rights reserved ii 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. iii 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. iv 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. v 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 vi 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. viii 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. ix 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