Preamble
For your convenience I have listed the first part of this series:
Abstract and Floral Designs of E.A.Seguy - Part I
Introduction [1]
It is no mere accident that the exuberant period of art and social life in the latter part of the nineteenth century, which is known as belle époque, the most fanciful and extravagant expression of the style of fin-de-siécle, Art Nouveau, and Art Déco, all share a French origin. Whilst other English, European or American cities were recognized at different points in time as centers of excellence in various arts, there can be little doubt that from the middle years of the nineteen century the entire civilized world regarded Paris as the center of the world for art and looked to it as a lead in fashion, painting and music, but also in dress as well as to some degree in manners and mores. So strong was the hold of Parisian ideals in areas such as couture, that in the London of the nineteenth century an well into the inter-war period, fashion houses, dressmakers and hairdressers, corset makers and even some of the smaller emergent decorators, found it expedient for their continued existence to maintain intimate connection with the oracles of taste in the French capital.
The great "Exposition de Arts décoratifs" which was staged in Paris in 1925 highlighted the very best work being carried out in France. All the great French names in decorative arts and in furnishing and interior decoration, as well as jewlery design, ceramics and the manufacture of fine textiles, were represented.
In France there had been a long and distinguished tradition of finely printed folios of designs for various decorative purposes issued by artists and designers. It is clear that a number of designers, who had been in producing such volumes were stimulated by the show in 1925 to create decorative plates of the very highest quality in popular Art Nouveau and Art Déco style. The celebrated designer E.A. Seguy was such a person. Seguy's career in the production of grand design books was a long and distinguished one. As early as 1901-3 he had produced a series of sixty plates.
E A (Eugene Alain) Seguy (1889-1985), who was a designer working in France at the beginning of the 20th Century.
Seguy's style incorporated elements of both the Art Nouveau and Art Déco movements.
On looking through plates of Seguy's books one realizes immediately the extent to which the individual patterns and motifs could be applied with equal facility and success, not only to fabrics for both dress and furnishings, but to wallpapers, carpets and all kinds of other surfaces. I hope you enjoy his work.
Abstract and Floral Designs of E.A.Seguy - Part II The following designs are a selection drawn from the publication Suggestions pour Etoffes et Tapis. Plates 8 and 9 are reminiscent of English wallpapers of the "Asethetic" movement and recall in particular the work of the accomplished, but still relatively little-known designer Battely.
From Plate 7.
From plate 7.
From plate 7.
From plate 7.
From plate 8.
From plate 8.
From plate 8.
From plate 9.
From plate 9.
Reference:
[1] S. Calloway, Abstract and Floral Designs - E.A. Seguy, Bracken Books, London (1988).
For your convenience I have listed the first part of this series:
Abstract and Floral Designs of E.A.Seguy - Part I
Introduction [1]
It is no mere accident that the exuberant period of art and social life in the latter part of the nineteenth century, which is known as belle époque, the most fanciful and extravagant expression of the style of fin-de-siécle, Art Nouveau, and Art Déco, all share a French origin. Whilst other English, European or American cities were recognized at different points in time as centers of excellence in various arts, there can be little doubt that from the middle years of the nineteen century the entire civilized world regarded Paris as the center of the world for art and looked to it as a lead in fashion, painting and music, but also in dress as well as to some degree in manners and mores. So strong was the hold of Parisian ideals in areas such as couture, that in the London of the nineteenth century an well into the inter-war period, fashion houses, dressmakers and hairdressers, corset makers and even some of the smaller emergent decorators, found it expedient for their continued existence to maintain intimate connection with the oracles of taste in the French capital.
The great "Exposition de Arts décoratifs" which was staged in Paris in 1925 highlighted the very best work being carried out in France. All the great French names in decorative arts and in furnishing and interior decoration, as well as jewlery design, ceramics and the manufacture of fine textiles, were represented.
In France there had been a long and distinguished tradition of finely printed folios of designs for various decorative purposes issued by artists and designers. It is clear that a number of designers, who had been in producing such volumes were stimulated by the show in 1925 to create decorative plates of the very highest quality in popular Art Nouveau and Art Déco style. The celebrated designer E.A. Seguy was such a person. Seguy's career in the production of grand design books was a long and distinguished one. As early as 1901-3 he had produced a series of sixty plates.
Seguy's style incorporated elements of both the Art Nouveau and Art Déco movements.
On looking through plates of Seguy's books one realizes immediately the extent to which the individual patterns and motifs could be applied with equal facility and success, not only to fabrics for both dress and furnishings, but to wallpapers, carpets and all kinds of other surfaces. I hope you enjoy his work.
Abstract and Floral Designs of E.A.Seguy - Part II The following designs are a selection drawn from the publication Suggestions pour Etoffes et Tapis. Plates 8 and 9 are reminiscent of English wallpapers of the "Asethetic" movement and recall in particular the work of the accomplished, but still relatively little-known designer Battely.
Reference:
[1] S. Calloway, Abstract and Floral Designs - E.A. Seguy, Bracken Books, London (1988).
