Plate 32, Papier peint "Mon chapeau s’envole", composition de Robert Mahias, from "Papiers Peints et Tentures Modernes"
Not on view
Design for a wallpaper made up of a rural landscape with stylized trees, flowers, country houses, and flying birds, as well as several human figures, mostly female, whose hats are taken away by the wind, and young males climbing on the trees, executed with black over a light gray ground. This design makes up the 32nd plate of a mixed media pattern book, titled "Papiers Peints et Tentures Modernes (Toiles et Cretonnes Imprimées)" [Painted Papers and Modern Hangings (Printed Fabrics and Cotton Cloth)], written by Henri Clouzot, conservator at the Musée Galliera and published in Paris [in 1929] by Ch. Massin & Cie. The album is composed of 46 leaves, including a half title page, a title page, a 2-page table of contents, an introductory text, and 40 plates, each with one or two designs, numbered 1-40, bound with blue linen. The plates present designs for printed textiles and wallpapers, designed by different artists, whose names are included on each plate. The design motifs are 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.
