Les Grandes Modes de Paris, Supplément, ca. 1910, No. 113, Pl. 1233 : Aux Nouveautés 'le Phénix'(...) c. 1910

This fashion plate by A. Souchel, a print of the Parisian high fashion around 1910, seems like an early ancestor of abstract painting. Look at these gowns, suspended in their decorative frames like paintings on a gallery wall. Each one is made with the same kind of attention to detail, color, and composition that you'd find in a portrait or a landscape. The colours are delicate and subtle, like a watercolor, and the lines are soft and flowing. The texture looks smooth and polished, but also detailed and intricate, like lace or embroidery. I wonder what it must have been like for Souchel to make these? This work reminds me of the Pattern and Decoration movement from the 70s, or even the Vienna Secession. Artists are always looking at each other's work, across time and space, picking up on ideas and remixing them. This feels like a very early step on that road.