Modes et Manières d'Aujourd'hui, 1922, Pl. 4 : Amazone 1922 - 1923

Fernand Siméon made this print, Amazone, in 1922. Look at the way he's used a limited range of browns and blacks, so elegantly! This echoes the modes and manners of the title and I immediately get a sense of understated luxury. The textures here are so interesting, especially the difference between the hatching on the architecture, and the smooth flatness of the riding habit. I love the way Siméon suggests details like the pleats of the skirt with the briefest of marks. It’s almost like shorthand, but it tells you everything you need to know. See how the figure is set against a backdrop with another rider, a dog and a suggestion of the countryside. This is like a stage set and the figure is very much posing, a depiction of how to look as much as who to be. This feels like a cousin to the work of someone like Erté, or even Lélian Chevée, and shows that art is just a big conversation between image-makers and their peers.