Art - Goût - Beauté, Feuillets de l' élégance féminine, Juin 1932, No. 142, 12e Année, p. 23 1932

This print by H. Rouit, made in June 1932, is from an edition of Feuillets de l'élégance féminine, a magazine. Can you imagine what it was like to produce fashion plates at that time? The print is mostly in green and red. The figures are posed stiffly as if on a stage. I see a certain geometry in the composition. The artist has captured the essence of early 1930s fashion, its elegance, and the optimism of the interwar period. Looking at this image, I feel the artist was trying to strike a balance between presenting the latest trends and creating a sense of timeless beauty. The clean lines and muted colors evoke a feeling of sophistication and restraint. It reminds me a little of Sonia Delaunay who also worked between fine and applied arts. Artists are always in dialogue with each other across time, riffing on one another’s ideas. The print embraces ambiguity and offers multiple ways of reading the image.