Formes et Couleurs, Planche 18
Designed by Auguste H. Thomas French
Published by Albert Lévy, Librairie Centrale des Beaux-Arts
Not on view
Eighteenth plate of pochoir pattern book with loose leaves titled "Formes et Couleurs: Vingt Planches en Couleurs Contenant Soixante-sept Motifs Décoratifs" (Forms and Colors: Twenty Colored Plates Containing Sixty-Seven Decorative Motifs), designed by Auguste H. Thomas and edited by Albert Lévy, published in Paris by Librairie Centrale des Beaux-Arts around 1930. The album is composed of one title page and 20 plates with several designs, numbered 1-20. The plates are stored inside a reconstructed black portfolio with title pochoir label on the front cover. The designs in the album are possibly for textiles and contain a variety of geometric motifs, birds and flowers, all typical of the Art Deco style, which was characterized by its eclecticism, drawing from a variety of sources that sought to combine old European design traditions with the modern style diffused by avant-garde art, while also reflecting the romantic fascination with early Egyptian and Meso-American "exotic" cultures promoted by archaeological discoveries of the times.
The plate consists of three designs with semi-abstract motifs with flowers, leaves, fruits, and animals. The first design is made up of a vine with yellow branches and semi-abstract roses with leaves, colored with shades of purple and black, and butterflies: a large one in the center, with wings colored with shades of orange and blue, and body colored with bluish-green, and smaller butterflies with purple leaves with blue dots and orange bodies. The decond design is made up of a large bundle with semi-abstract flowers, colored with shades of green and brown, and bunches of grapes, colored with shades of blue, green and purple, over an aquamarine ground with a grid outlined with green. The final design is made up of semi-abstract leaves, colored with green, black and purple, and a semi-abstract wolf (?), colored with shades of pink, chasing a semi-abstract hare (?), colored with tan.