Très Parisien, 1927, No. 3, Pl. 12.- SOLEIL COUCHANT 1927

Curator: Ah, there's a playful elegance to "Trés Parisien, 1927, No. 3, Pl. 12 - SOLEIL COUCHANT" created in 1927 by G-P. Joumard, using ink and watercolor on paper. It's currently held at the Rijksmuseum. What springs to mind when you first see it? Editor: My initial thought? Stylish secrets! These women seem like they're sharing a delicious piece of gossip after a glamorous tea. It has this whimsical quality, with those flattened trees. Are we sure that's watercolour? It looks so graphic, so deliberately designed. Curator: Indeed! The Art Deco aesthetic is evident here, everything streamlined and chic. There's an interesting use of geometric patterns in their clothing. Note how plaid becomes a symbolic representation of order and urban life, contrasting with those almost cartoonish trees that create a very stylized ‘sunset’. The artist makes the scene more about fashion than a genuine moment of the sunset! Editor: Right! They're almost like fashion mannequins escaped into a Matisse cut-out. And those hats! I bet they held worlds of dreams and social ambitions. Fashion itself becomes a symbolic armor here, presenting an ideal. Curator: Precisely! Their entire appearance is coded. For example, that detail is far from being naturally flowing! It echoes an ideal of female modernity that Joumard seems keen on immortalizing. I see not only Art Deco influence, but also subtle hints of social commentary about femininity and modernity. Editor: Makes you wonder, what 'secrets' does their style suggest, or perhaps conceal? Is there a melancholy beneath the sharp tailoring and poised postures? It almost feels as if they're simultaneously inviting us into their exclusive world, and keeping us firmly at a distance. I want to invent a back story for these flappers, though, their clothes really are delicious! Curator: The beauty lies in the intersection of image, societal values, and materials which the piece embodies and represents so compellingly. We are left wanting to decipher an enigmatic world. Editor: Absolutely. Fashion fades, darling, but style? Style is a perpetual narrative.