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Leila Lyons quoted in Southern Accents article "Pochoir Prints"
May 1, 2006
 Southern Accents' May issue contains an article on Pochoir, a unique method of making prints, and features quotes by Leila Lyons. Pochoir is a beautiful process that dominated the early years of the twentieth century. Lyons Ltd. has a large collection of Pochoir prints that cover not only fashion but other subjects as well.
If you enter "pochoir" in the advanced search box on the Lyons Ltd. website, you will find our wonderful selection of Pochoir prints depicting botanicals, landscapes, fashion, military themes, and the performing arts. Please don't hesitate to contact the gallery at (800) LYONS-LTD to learn more!
Enjoy the full article below:
POCHOIR PRINTS by Kate Betts
Fashion is often referred to as the most superficial of cultural signifiers. The way people dress can reveal much about specific moments in history. Christian Dior’s 1947 New Look collection, for example, with its endless yards of luxurious satin and taffeta, demonstrated the postwar fantasy of luxury following years of wartime rations. The New Look, which was inspired by Dior’s mother, alluded to the cinched, corseted costume of the late 19th century, a time marked by rigid customs and constricting social hierarchies. What followed, the footloose and free-spirited 1920s, was best exemplified in the short, loose-waisted flapper dress. Nowhere is the freedom and vibrance of the decade better captured than in period graphic art – particularly in fashion illustrations created by a technique known as pochoir.
The process, which involves applying brilliant color to prints by hand using cutout stencils, dates back to the 15th century, when artists used stencils as a less expensive way to reproduce woodcut prints. The pochoir technique didn’t become popular or collectible until the ‘20s, when it was used commercially in Paris to create prints for fashion patterns or architectural designs. The technique also influenced modern artists such as Matisse and Picasso. The famous Matisse “Jazz” folio was developed from cutout techniques not unlike pochoir.
At the height of the ‘20s, Paris was a melting pot of artistic activity. From Harlem came the influence of jazz and Josephine Baker performing La Revue Negre. From Russia, the costume and set designer Leon Bakst brought the rich, ethnic dress of the Ballets Russes, introducing the French bourgeoisie to new color combinations such as turquoise and fuchsia and Far East details such as feathers and turbans. Pochoir prints captured the juxtaposition of intense colors, the geometric compositions reminiscent of Art Deco, and Asian-inspired accents. It was that pizzazz that made them instantly collectible.
Today they are sought for many of the same reasons. “What makes pochoir prints so desirable is that they represent the best in the changing thinking of that time,” says Leila Lyons, owner of Lyons Limited Antique Prints in Palo Alto, California. “Nineteenth-century prints were structured, rigid, and conventional, whereas pochoir prints have a real sense of rebellion that was part of the early 20th century. It was a time of freedom and discovery, a time of gaiety and charm and whimsy, and the pochoir process captured this with freedom of color and form.”
That whimsy and wit have become the hallmark of the pochoir technique, which originally appeared in publications such as la Gazette due Bon Ton, a fashion magazine published from 1912 to 1925 that became a kind of bible for the urban leisure class (it was eventually bought by Vogue). Its mission was to report on “the new lifestyle,” providing information about travel, theater, and fashion. The Gazette featured the work of many leading artists, including fashion illustrators George Barbier and Georges Lepape and painters Raoul Dufy and Thayht. These artists were often commissioned to create pochoir plates for cutting edge Parisian fashion houses, such as Worth, Lanvin, and Poiret, and the plates would eventually show up in the Gazette.
The manual labor involved in the pochoir technique was both its glory and its demise. Mechanized techniques such as lithography and serigraphy, which increased reproduction capabilities, eventually replaced the laborious process. Today these prints, especially those in which costumes are contrasted against a detailed interior background scene, are among the most collectible fashion prints. They often involve a fluid female form in front of a more structured decorative element, such as a woman burning a piece of paper with a candle in front of an intricate stretch of wallpaper.
Because the interest in pochoir prints is a fairly recent phenomenon, it’s not hard to find them in good condition. “They were almost too avant-garde coming out of World War I,” explains Lyons, “so interest didn’t really pick up until interest in modernism began to grow.” Which means that most prints were kept in portfolios or magazines until recently, sparing them the trimming, staining, and gluing to cardboard that many earlier prints received – another benefit of their “dare to be different” vibe.
Just the Facts
What to look for: Most knowledgable collectors collect either on the basis of names, with Poiret, Lepape, and Barbier being the most coveted, or on the basis of prints with particular kinds of fashion, such as hats, theater gowns, or sporting apparel.
Expect to Pay: Anywhere from $120 to $900.
Buyer Beware: Digital imagery has brought on a rise in fakes. According to Leila Lyons, owner of Lyons Limited Antique Prints in Palo Alto, California, the best way to spot a fake is to magnify it and then examine the way the stencils overlap. “They can’t be too perfect,” she says. “Look for colors that break down into patterns – dots and dashes – a sure sign of photo-mechanical reproduction.”
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