http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/sandamichaela-1291346-george-barbier-4/

George Barbier French illustrators of the early 20th century

George Barbier (1882 - 1932) portrait by Charles Martin

Born in Nantes, France on October 10, 1882, Barbier was 29 years old when he mounted his first exhibition in 1911 and was subsequently swept to the forefront of his profession with commissions to design theatre and ballet costumes, to illustrate books, and to produce haute couture fashion illustrations.

92 93

Barbier began his career as a costume and set designer for the Ballets Russes, where he became inspired by the poetic movements of the celebrated Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. Designs on the Dances of Vaslav Nijinsky is Barbier's first illustrated book and one of the first lavishly produced editions de luxe that became so popular in France and London during the 1910's and 1920's. 

George Barbier is considered one of the finest illustrators in the Art Deco genre. With a distinctive elegance and simplicity, he captured the mood and atmosphere of his time. Barbier was successful in a multitude of visual disciplines, including fashion illustration and advertising graphics, as well as poster, textile and wallpaper design.

One of them, the Journal des Dames et des Modes lasted only two years but served to establish Barbier as a designer, since the illustrations in the magazine were not copies of couturier models but designs Barbier did himself. This allowed Barbier to exert an influence on fashion without actually running a couturier house himself. The Journal des Dames et des Modes: ... was a luxury magazine for an exclusive clientele; only 1279 copies of each issue were printed. The magazine appeared three times a month The text part of each number filled eight pages and consisted of belles lettres - aphorisms, fashionable poetry, fashion notes and the like - written by pillars of tout Paris...Anatole France, Jean Cocteau and the Comtesse de Noailles. In addition, each issue was accompanied by from one to five unbound colored fashion plates...the yearly subscription price was 100 francs in France, 120 francs elsewhere.Needless to say, copies of the magazine are extremely rare, as are individual plates. Fortunately, Dover and Rizzoli have reprinted most of the plates between them so that studying them at second hand is now possible.

George Barbier's career "started", for all practical purposes in 1912. Three important new Paris fashion magazines began publishing in that year and Barbier was made the principal illustrator for two of them

Turandot

Pictures: InternetCopyright: All the images belong to their authors

Arangement: Sanda Foişoreanu

www.slideshare.net/michaelasandaSound: Je romps la chaîne qui m'engage – Sumi Jo