Le Vrai et le Faux Chic, Musée des Erreurs
Title page for illustrated section, "Musée des Erreurs" (Museum of Errors), of book with color lithography illustrations, titled "Le Vrai & le Faux Chic" (The True and False Chic), written and illustrated by SEM [Georges Goursat], and published in Paris in 1914. This plate consists of an illustrated inscription with the title of the illustrated section, decorated with four hanging female head caricatures, wearing extravagant makeup of blue and red tones and large headdresses of bright colors, and a woman standing to their left, wearing a yellow dress with large ruffles, decorated with blue pompons, and wearing a blue headdress with an antenae with a yellow bell, and pointing at them while staring with horror.
The set of illustrations titled "Musée des Erreurs" (Museum of Errors) provides a number of examples of the "false chic" that SEM criticizes, through caricature in both the written commentary and the illustrations, in his book, which consists of a title page, 2 leaves with advertisements, 40 pages text and illustrations (17 pages compose the illustrated section "Musée des Erreurs"), and 2 leaves with advertisements, not bound and kept in a blue slip case with the original white paper covers, embossed and gilded. SEM argues that disorder that reigns the fashion industry of the time. Fashion, he argues, is no longer reserved for specialists, and appeals for the collaboration of painters, artists and writers alike. It is an "eminently French" phenomenon, which lives especially in Paris, although it has become a sort of vice by the time he writes: fashion has become disorganized and ever-changing due to the influence of a group of people who lack discipline and control. This has led to a number of extravagances that reflect on the irrational choices in the costumes and headdresses of women and the complicated and excessive outfits worn by Parisian women.
The set of illustrations titled "Musée des Erreurs" (Museum of Errors) provides a number of examples of the "false chic" that SEM criticizes, through caricature in both the written commentary and the illustrations, in his book, which consists of a title page, 2 leaves with advertisements, 40 pages text and illustrations (17 pages compose the illustrated section "Musée des Erreurs"), and 2 leaves with advertisements, not bound and kept in a blue slip case with the original white paper covers, embossed and gilded. SEM argues that disorder that reigns the fashion industry of the time. Fashion, he argues, is no longer reserved for specialists, and appeals for the collaboration of painters, artists and writers alike. It is an "eminently French" phenomenon, which lives especially in Paris, although it has become a sort of vice by the time he writes: fashion has become disorganized and ever-changing due to the influence of a group of people who lack discipline and control. This has led to a number of extravagances that reflect on the irrational choices in the costumes and headdresses of women and the complicated and excessive outfits worn by Parisian women.
Artwork Details
- Title: Le Vrai et le Faux Chic, Musée des Erreurs
- Artist: Georges Goursat [Sem] (French, Perigueux 1863–1934 Paris)
- Publisher: Succés , Paris
- Date: 1914
- Medium: Color lithograph
- Dimensions: Sheet: 17 7/8 × 12 13/16 in. (45.4 × 32.6 cm)
- Classifications: Prints, Ornament & Architecture
- Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1962
- Object Number: 62.652.7(1)
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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