Journal des Dames et des Modes, Costumes Parisiens, 1914, No. 142 : Manon 1914

H. Robert Dammy made this print, Manon, in 1914 using pen and ink. What a year to be an artist! I can only imagine what it was like to make art just as the war was about to break out. The artist’s fine, precise linework meticulously traces the elaborate contours of the costume, exploring the shifting shapes of the dress. It’s almost like the dress could take off and leave the sitter behind! I am curious about the artist’s choice of vertical stripes, which look oddly modern against the more old-fashioned detailing of the frock. It gives the figure a curious kind of motion, as if she is about to burst forward. I have a deep sense that artists today, and those from the past, are in conversation through their work. I like to think of it as a kind of wonderful, inspiring exchange of ideas across time, which opens up so many possibilities for how we see and understand our world.