Voyages et glorieuses decouvertes des grands navigateurs et explorateurs Français.
Paris: Tolmer, circa 1924.
First Edition.
An outstanding French children’s book of the 1920s and an unusually bold and daring example of pochoir design.
Edy Legrand (1892-1970) was a leading illustrator of the Art Deco era, renowned for challenging traditional notions of children’s book design. This folio, celebrating the great French explorers of the Pacific and Americas, was printed using the pochoir method of multiple colour stencilling guards. The resulting images are remarkable for their strong lines and vivid colouration.
A prolific artist, Legrand illustrated a wide range of material including Don Quixote, The Three Musketeers and Dante’s Inferno. Nonetheless, his children’s books - remarkable for their blend of naïveté and confident design - are considered his most enduring productions. Legrand later worked in the United States, and eventually settled in Morocco where he produced oil paintings now considered modern masterpieces.
Plates from Voyages et Glorieuses Decouvertes… were included in Hillier’s exhibition catalogue The World of Art Deco, (Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1972).
Folio, illustrated with fifty-four stencil-coloured illustrations and a double-page colour composition, in addition to two folding maps; an attractive copy in the original illustrated boards, a little rubbed at the corners.
Price (AUD): $1,250.00 other currencies