Le Style Parisien, 1925, Pl. 11 : Le noir et le blanc (...) c. 1925

This fashion plate, titled Le Style Parisien, was made in 1925 with a printmaking process I can't quite put my finger on. You see a gathering of women in their early twenties garb on some vague shore with one random goose. I guess the artist thought that the goose gave the image some je ne sais quoi. The artist makes decisions about the opacity and layering of color. Look at how the women and the goose stand out. If I was making this, I might think of these colors as a way to pull some figures forward, and let other parts recede, pushing and pulling your eye around the composition. Let's talk about that black lattice dress. It's the kind of mark making that feels both carefully planned and kind of haphazard. Is that a metaphor for the ways we present ourselves to the world? Who knows! But it's fun to think about. This print is like a quieter cousin to the paintings of someone like Tamara de Lempicka. Both artists are engaged in exploring the styles and attitudes of the time, but each with their own unique rhythm. It's all just one big conversation across time, right?