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BOOKPLATES THE WORLD OF EX-LIBRIS |
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A historical retrospective 3 MODERN TIMES |
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3f THE 1900s: OTHER COUNTRIES 1880-1920
If the term ‘Art Nouveau’ is used in French, it is certainly because
France was one of the countries which set this stylistic trend –
though rather in applied arts, architecture and design rather
than in graphics and ex-libris, a field in which few French artists
produced works in this style. Belgium was situated between the
German and French graphics traditions, and had a number of
fine artists active in bookplates during this period. Spain had a
strong group of artists making bookplates, active in Barcelona,
many of whom were exponents of Art Nouveau style. Italy, on the
contrary, had very few making ex-libris before the 1920s.
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3f/1. Jules Cheret (F, 1836-1932)  P. DE CRAUZAT, L,
74 x 67, 1896.
Viz. GMN p. 202 ill., p. 203.
In London until 1866, Cheret moved to Paris where he became one of the well-known artists of his time, but is still better remembered as the inventor of chromolithography. This process enabled the printing of the fashionable posters of Toulouse-Lautrec, Grasset and others, including Cheret himself. There is a museum dedicated to him in Nice. This is the only bookplate he made, for his friend P. de Crauzat. |
3f/2. Jacques Gruber (F, 1870-1936) PAUL CHENUT, P7, 120
x 85, c.1910.
Viz. GMN p. 205.
Gruber was a stained-glass artist and professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris; this is his only known bookplate. Chenut was one of the great bibliophiles of his time. The difference of ‘flavour’ between this plate and British or German ones is easy to perceive. |
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3f/3. Albert Robida (F, 1848-1926) FRÉDÉRIC RAISIN, C3,
216 x 135, 1914.
Viz. GMN p. 204.
A well-known illustrator and caricaturist, Robida made a dozen ex-libris, all showing his verve and humour. Raisin was very anti-German when the First World War broke out... |
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3f/4. Leo Schnug (F/D, 1878-1933) IPSE, P4 + P1, 122 x 82,
c. 1910.
Born in Alsace but active a great part of his life in Germany, Schnug made several ex-libris which are amusing modern throw-backs to Gothic times. |
3f/5. Armand Rels (B, 1874-1951) G. BARBANSON, P1,
90 x 70, c.1910.
Rels was an important graphic artist in the 1900s in Belgium. His work was strongly influenced by Beardsley and the British school. |
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3f/6. Louis Titz (B, 1859-1932) JULES DARCET, P1, 125 x 88,
1914. GM 11623.
A poignant bookplate by the Belgian artist Titz, who made several ex-libris in 1914-1918 on the subject of war. In the ruins, one reads Here was my library on the wall. The owner, Darcet, lived in Ypres. |
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3f/7. Francisco Roca (E) JOSEPH MONSALVATJE, P7,
100 x 65, c.1910.
Although Roca was not the most famous of the Barcelona group of artists active in the field of ex-libris, this bookplate is typical of the Spanish Art Nouveau style, in particular the inscription. |
3f/8. Luis García Falgas (E, 1881-1954) CARMEN DOMENECH
DE GRAS, C3 + C5, 137 x 90, 1920.
An excellent engraver of the generation following Riquer (see next plate), Garcia Falgas went a step beyond: he sought to make ex-libris which were not decorative even if stylistically marked by their time, whereas Riquer’s bookplates are often more markedly ‘period pieces’. |
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3f/9. Alejandro de Riquer (E, 1856-1920) IPSE, C3,
100 x 29, 1907.
The best known of the Catalan ex-librists of the turn of the century, Riquer was a prolific artist, and the author of a number of artistically original and remarkable plates. This one has a flavour of surrealism and of Spanish Art Nouveau, a style in the formation of which Riquer had an important part. |
3f/10. Francisco Esteve Botey (E, 1884-1950) IPSE,
C3 + C5, 100 x 82, 1914.
Esteve Botey was an important painter and engraver, who with Riquer was responsible to a great extent for the blossoming of bookplates in Catalonia at the turn of the century. In 1949, he published a book entitled Ex-libris y Ex-libristas (Aguilar, ed.) which is still the best Spanish publication on ex-libris of his day. His own bookplate is a fine piece, not marked by the widespread decorativism of the time. |
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3f/11. José Triado-Mayól (E, 1870-) IPSE, C3, 154 x 162,
c.1918.
Triado was also an important member of the ‘Barcelona Group’ and created well over 200 ex-libris, mostly in fine Art Nouveau style. This bookplate for himself, No. 219 of his ex-libris opus, tackles a theme which required sobriety rather than decorative style: it is an imposing statement on the horror of war. |
3f/12. Juan Forja (ARG) OSCAR TIBERIO, P7, 118 x 94 ,
c.1930.
Art Nouveau is hardly perceptible in Argentine ex-libris, as bookplates did not really become widespread there before the mid-1920s. This bookplate, however, clearly shows that Art Déco style arrived quickly from Europe and was amusingly interpreted by local artists. |
End of 3f
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