[Our apologies to any previous watchers. The description has been significantly revised, to better describe the condition of the prints.]
The magazine is approximately 18.5 x 27.5cm. All the pages appear to be present, unless there were advertising pages that preceded page 1. There are 3 pages of advertisements and 5 pages of descriptions of the figures (styles) at the rear. The Pochoir prints are each approximately 12.5 x 19 cm., and “tipped in” (attached to the underlying page) only at the upper edge. The fragile prints themselves are all in remarkably good condition, though the pages they are attached to show notable wear, especially at the outside edges - see photos. Some of the prints have “ripples’ (see photos), possibly a characteristic of the paper used, but in any case visible in other pochoir prints in different issues of Très Parisien found online. (A slight breeze was blowing when the photographs were taken, which lifted up some of the edges.) 3 of the 18 prints have a short crease across the lower corner closest to the magazine’s binding. 1 of the 18 has both a long and a short diagonal crease - see photos.
Très Parisien promoted itself as chic and elegant. Between 1920 and 1936 it presented creations by such couturiers as Chéruit, Premet, Philip et Gaston, and Lanvin. The young, svelte models are all ultra-modern, shown talking on the phone, smoking and playing tennis. The illustrations also show that over the course of the 1920s, skirt lengths had risen to just below the knee, before dropping back down to calf length in the 1930s. The small plates were printed on transparent paper using a stencilling technique known as en pochoir and then hand coloured; many of them are unsigned. The signature ‘Joujou’ belonged to Germaine Paule Joumard, who was the director of Très Parisien, as well as one of the magazine’s illustrators
The cover illustration is signed at the bottom, possibly by the magazine’s “Director” & illustrator: G. P. Joumard, or “Joujou”. The cover and several of the 18 plates bear the same signature, which appears plausibly like it could be “Joujou”, but I cannot say for certain. Do not assume it is her signature, though it appears that it might be. Of course, it seems somewhat logical to assume that at least some of the illustrations would be done by the Director of the magazine, who also happened to be one of the illustrators.
The magazine’s binding is quite fragile, but basically intact. All the pages are still held in the binding, though nevertheless, if the magazine were to be opened wide - greater than 90 degrees, for instance - there’s a good chance the binding could crack. Of course, if a buyer was planning on removing the prints for framing, keeping the binding intact wouldn’t matter, but it’s held together for 99 years, despite its fragility. As can be seen in the main photo, the magazine’s cover has been reattached to the binding with [acid-free, archival] tape.
There isn’t space to show all the prints. If anyone is interested, I can send additional images via multiple eBay messages, so that a buyer could see all 18.
Feel free to ask a question.
The magazine requires very gentle and careful handling, and will be packed with exceptional care, to ensure it arrives safely, in the condition shown and described.
An adult recipient at the eBay registered address will need to sign for the book at delivery.
Free returns for any reason, but of course the magazine must be returned in precisely the same condition as when sent.
Simply stated, pochoir is the French word for stencil. In the 1920’s and 30’s Art Deco era, the color application process of the stencil was rejuvenated by the French, bringing color illustration processes for books and prints to new glorious heights. This interest in exploring the stencil process came in reaction to the proliferation of machine printing and the poor quality of color reproductions in publishing. With pochoir printing, the hand application of layers of pigment created dazzling effects that the camera or printing press could never replicate. Earlier stencil works, typically used for decorative surface ornament were quite primitive, with applied color areas outlined by the supporting cutout framework. New experimental techniques in pochoir refined the process using multiple layers of color applications for a single print. Pochoir printing was also easily combined with images made by lithography, woodcut, wood engraving, line drawings, or etchings, thus turning a decorative technique into fine art. Jean Saudé was one of the foremost artists to explore and promote pochoir techniques and his treatise, Traité d’Enluminure d’Art au Pochoir, published in 1925 did much to further this art form.
POCHOIR: TECHNIQUE
With pochoir, a hand painted fashion plate, decorative or interior design, or illustration to be duplicated was carefully analyzed to determine each color layer. Often, but not always, an outline of the image was printed as a black and white lithograph and served as a base layer, especially in the design and fashion portfolios. In many interior illustrations, a line drawing or even a half-tone photograph was lithographed as the base layer. Each succeeding layer of color was then printed over the black and white litho layer. Depending on how intense the lithograph layer was, it would either be incorporated fully in the final image or be invisible and serve only as a guide to the image layout.
Separate stencils were cut, sometimes in thin sheets of copper, zinc, or aluminum, for every color component. Later stencil materials were made of celluloid or plastic and contemporary stencil materials are made of coated paper or acetate. Each successive color layer, using watercolor or gouache, was applied to the stencil with a brush called a pompon. Pigment on the brush could not be thick or runny, as paint could easily slide underneath the stencil and change the shape of the image. Therefore, it was necessary to really blot the pigment on the brush before applying it to the stencil and in the case of watercolor images, this was even more critical. Skilled printers could achieve incredibly subtle details using gradation and stippling, spattering or even simply drawing additional details with a small brush on the final layer. Sometimes as many as 100 stencils were used to recreate a single image, and the resulting print was surprisingly rich and detailed.
Thanks for your interest.