Saturday, September 12, 2009

Art Nouveau

I'm very aware I have been neglecting this blog. I have quite a few long posts nearly ready, and one of them is on the etcher Pierre Vidal. Vidal is very much a chronicler of the Belle Époque, and one of his books - of which more anon - is entitled La Femme à Paris (text by Octave Uzanne). Now Vidal's work, as you shall shortly see, is fairly realistic, in a post-Impressionist sort of way. But the dustjacket of La Femme à Paris is by another artist, in a completely different contemporary style. The date is 1894.



The style, of course, is Art Nouveau, and the artist is Leon Rudnicki. Resident in Paris, and active in the 1890s, Rudnicki was presumably of Polish extraction. Does anybody know anything more about him?
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6 comments:

  1. JaneSeptember 14, 2009 at 3:28 PM

    Why do you suppose book design has become so boring? It's not as though we don't have new techologies to help us place images. Every inch of this book binding is part of the design - and it makes a person want to open the book.

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  2. Jay DeeSeptember 15, 2009 at 9:28 AM

    Hi Neil! Eagerly awaiting more of your postings - great stuff!

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  3. NeilSeptember 15, 2009 at 9:28 AM

    You're so right, Jane. It makes me even more surprised that Rudnicki seems so little known. But what will amaze you when I get round to finishing my post on Vidal is how very different the Rudnicki dustwrapper is from the interior of the book.

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  4. NeilSeptember 15, 2009 at 9:30 AM

    Thanks, Jay Dee - I am sorry to have let the postings get quite so sporadic!

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  5. ARS PICTORICANovember 13, 2013 at 3:52 PM

    You can find some information about Léon Rudnicki in:
    - http://catalogo.bnportugal.pt/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=13843HH9S2015.19&menu=search&aspect=advanced&npp=20&ipp=20&spp=20&profile=bn&ri=&index=AUTHOR&term=rudnicki&aspect=advanced#focus

    - http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on_Rudnicki

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  6. NeilNovember 13, 2013 at 5:00 PM

    Many thanks, Ars Pictorica - that definitely adds to my meagre knowledge about Rudnicki.

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