['Journal des Dames et des Modes: the Fashion Illustrators', 'Journal des Dames et des Modes: Fashion News'] by Jan van Brock

['Journal des Dames et des Modes: the Fashion Illustrators', 'Journal des Dames et des Modes: Fashion News'] 1913

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janvanbrock

print, watercolor

portrait

art-nouveau

print

watercolor

flat colour

fruit

decorative-art

Dimensions: height 179 mm, width 107 mm

This fashion plate, Journal des Dames et des Modes, was created around 1913 by Jan van Brock using some form of printmaking, maybe lithography, and then hand-painted in gouache. The colours are super flat, a very limited palette of red, tan, and purple, all hemmed in by a hard, crisp line. I am drawn to how the red of the outfit and the purple of the fruit create a really striking contrast. The artist doesn't even try to model these forms in any naturalistic way. Instead, they are flattened and outlined and set against the white background. The long tassels falling down the front of the dress create a playful and dynamic contrast, and the overall effect is very graphic and modern. It reminds me of Matisse, but it also makes me think of Sonia Delaunay. Like these artists, Van Brock is interested in the interplay of colour and form as a form of joyful expression. It is an image that doesn't try to represent reality but instead creates its own unique visual world.

Comments

rijksmuseum over 1 year ago

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['The Journal des Dames was inspired by the eponymous fashion magazine from the previous century and, like the earlier publication, referred to its illustrations as Costumes Parisiens. These Costumes Parisiens (184 illustrations in total) were drawn in a new, flat, decorative manner by George Barbier, Jan van Brock, Victor Lhuer and other Parisian artists, each with a signature style. Every issue came with two or three separate plates. These showed a wide variety of fashionable apparel, from elegant evening attire to outdoor outfits. A brief caption provides the name of the garment and the material from which it was made, but never the name of a fashion house.', 'The Journal de Dames et des Modes was marketed towards the affluent, sophisticated elite. The text consisted of literary contributions and articles on various topics written by leading Parisian literati. The fashion commentaries discussed the full spectrum of new trends, such as ‘strolling bareheaded by motorcar,’ matching the colour of one’s dress to that of one’s automobile, the impracticality of small umbrellas, the wearing of sky-blue and grass-green wigs, and the vogue among women for large flat hats or for the small toques adorned with feathers that projected from their foreheads like antennae.']