Dover - Fantastic Ornament: French Color Design

DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.Mineola, New YorkPublishers NoteT his unique collection draws upon spectacular textile designs created in Lyon, Frances third largest city. More than five-and-a-half centuries of silk manufacture in Lyon led to the citys reputation as the silk capital. The industry was founded in the mid-fifteenth century by Louis XI, and by 1540, the city had developed a monopoly in the trade. The silk industry thrived in Lyon until the late eighteenth century, when the chaos and deprivations of the French Revolution nearly destroyed it. Several decades later, however, with the patronage of Napoleon and Josephine, silk began to regain its place in Lyon, and well into the twentieth century, Lyon continued to enjoy its reputation as a preeminent producer of designs in silk. Today, this aspect of the citys history is explored and celebrated at the Fabric Museum (La Muse des Tissus).

The brilliant work of Lyons designers lives on in these patterns from a studio sourcebook of the early 1900s. The craftsmanship displayed in the more than one hundred plates included here reveals a mastery of floral patterns, as well as some quite modern abstract motifs, hinting at early influences of Art Deco design. Against backgrounds of soft pastels, rich intense hues, or the deepest blacks, the dozens of intricate patterns show a range of imagination and artistry and a joy in their creation. Copyright Copyright 2018 by Dover Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Bibliographical Note This Dover edition, first published in 2018, is a new compilation of color plates gathered from an early-twentieth-century hand-painted studio sourcebook.

A Publishers Note has been provided specially for this edition. International Standard Book NumberISBN-13: 978-0-486-82295-2ISBN-10: 0-486-82295-8 Manufactured in the United States by LSC Communications 82295801 2018 www.doverpublications.com