Art and Architecture Collection > Art Deco Style: A Research Guide

Selected Historical Titles

 

Primary source material from the Art Deco era includes: pattern books, plate books, periodicals and catalogues from exhibitions and shows. Illustrations from many of these publications were richly rendered in the pochoir technique. A form of printmaking, pochoir artists used a pain-staking hand-applied process involving gouache watercolor and stencil plates.

The following are a sample of the various plate books to be found in the Art and Architecture Collection:

• Benedictus, Edouard. Relais, 1930: quinze planches donnant quarante-deux motifs décoratifs, enluminure d'art de J. Saudé, préliminaires de Y. Rambosson. Paris: Vincent, 1930.
  This book of illustrations shows the types of imagery that were popular motifs for the style.
  
  
• Camus, Jacques. Idées 1: douze planches. Paris: [A. Calavas, 1922?].
  A groundbreaking pattern book that shows the style’s early development.
  
  
• Delaunay, Sonia.Compositions, couleurs, idees. Paris: Charles Moreau, ca. 1930.
  Geometrical designs by an important artist in the mode.
  
  
• Saudé, J. Traité.Traité d'enluminure d'art au pochoir, par Jean Saudé; précéde de notes par M. Antoine Bourdelle, Lucien Descaves ... et Sem [pseud.] Aquarelles de Beauzée-Reynaud, Benedictus [e. a.]. Paris: Éditions de l'Ibis, 1925.
  This is the treatise on the pochoir technique, with useful technical explanations and illustrations and a gallery of illustrations showing varying aspects of stencil and paint application.
  
  
• Seguy, E. A.Suggestions pour etoffes et tapis: 60 motifs en coleur. Paris: C. Massin, 1927.
  One of numerous pattern books by a master of the pochoir technique.
  
  
• Sonia Delaunay; ses peintures, ses objets, ses tissues simultanes, ses modes. Paris: Librarie des Arts decoratifs, 192-.
  This designer’s illustrations use Cubist shorthand for the human figure, and show how Art Deco utilized geometrical abstraction so people could look at objects in a new way.