Art Deco Fashion Illustrators

A young man in a dark tasselled cap plays a row of orange reed panpipes, wearing a white pleated skirt, white knee stockings and red pompom shoes. A woman stands close behind him, one hand at his shoulder, in a white headscarf, a coral-bead necklace, an embroidered bodice above a wide belt set with round gold medallions, and a white gown; she holds a sickle at her side. Behind them a hilltop crowned with a small temple rises against a deep blue sky among cypress trees.

George Barbier (1882–1932) was the leading illustrator of French Art Deco fashion. From 1912 his pochoir plates for the Gazette du Bon Ton, Falbalas et Fanfreluches and the couture houses of Paquin, Worth and Poiret drew on Persian miniatures, Greek vases and the Ballets Russes, setting slender figures against flat, saturated colour. He also designed for the stage and illustrated Verlaine and Louÿs. His plates are held by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Each print is made to our Archival Museum Standards: a 12-ink giclée, printed to order. Unframed prints are made on Hahnemühle German Etching, a 310gsm matte fine-art paper. Framed prints arrive in a handmade solid-wood frame with low-reflection glazing, ready to hang. Ships worldwide with free delivery to 30+ countries.

Twisting at the waist, a green-eyed woman looks back over a high fur collar, one arm flung up to grip a long pink-striped veil that streams across the sky. Her coat falls in a narrow column, spotted with dark rosettes and lined in yellow at the opening; a green ring shows on the hand at her hip. Huge leaves, slashed in green, and cream blossoms crowd around her under heavy scalloped clouds. The caption calls it a tiger coat by Max-Leroy.

The original: pochoir, 1923; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Charles Martin (1884–1934) was a French illustrator from Montpellier and one of the regular hands of the Gazette du Bon Ton, the Paris fashion review that turned couture into pochoir prints. He is also remembered for the drawings he made for Erik Satie's Sports et divertissements.

Each print is made to our Archival Museum Standards: a 12-ink giclée, printed to order. Unframed prints are made on Hahnemühle German Etching, a 310gsm matte fine-art paper. Framed prints arrive in a handmade solid-wood frame with low-reflection glazing, ready to hang. Ships worldwide with free delivery to 30+ countries.