Très Parisien, 1925, No. 9, Supplément. ST. MORITZ 1925

This fashion plate called Très Parisien, was made in 1925 by G-P. Joumard. It’s a lithograph, so think of it as a print pulled from a stone, with thin, flat colors laid down one by one to make an image. Look at the way the colors don’t quite line up, and how the outlines wobble a bit - that’s part of the charm, right? It makes you feel the artist’s hand, even though it’s a commercial piece. The palette is all pastels, pinks, yellows, blues - like a faded memory of a garden party. The soft colors almost cancel each other out, creating a very gentle effect. Then you notice the little dog. It is so cute! It’s sketched in quickly, with just a few lines, and it adds a touch of warmth to the whole scene. This feels very contemporary to the color block prints by someone like Hiroshi Yoshida. But it is very much its own thing. It’s a reminder that art is always in conversation with itself, across time and cultures.