Art

Bernard Boutet de Monvel: At the Origins of Art Deco

Discover the work and life of artist Bernard Boutet de Monvel, a groundbreaking painter of the café society who was highly influential to the Art Deco movement. Bernard Boutet de Monvel (1881-1949), painter of sportsmen and dandies, was also an interior designer and iconic illustrator of masculine elegance for publications including Harper’s Bazaar. As early as 1909, he heralded the Art Deco style and became the favored portraitist of the American café society. Prominent international millionaires—W. K. Vanderbilt, Lady Mendl, Millicent Rogers, the Maharaja of Indore, and the Astor, Whitney, Frick, and Du Pont dynasties—paraded through his studios in New York and Palm Beach. A key Precisionism artist, he reflected the industrial and urban modernity of America’s machine age in his stunning landscapes. This monograph—the first to be published in English—sheds new light on the artist’s protean work and restores his place at the forefront of the history of French and American art.

About The Author

Stéphane-Jacques Addade, art historian, is a specialist on Bernard Boutet de Monvel. He has devoted several exhibitions to the artist and published a few reference books in French.

  • Publish Date: September 06, 2016
  • Format: Hardcover
  • Category: Art - Individual Artists - Monographs
  • Publisher: Flammarion
  • Trim Size: 10-1/2 x 13-3/4
  • Pages: 364
  • US Price: $135.00
  • CDN Price: $180.00
  • ISBN: 978-2-08-020267-3

Reviews

"Come with me this week to discover this superbly illustrated and highly collectible new volume about Bernard Boutet de Monvel (1881-1949), the chic portraitist, who in the twenties, thirties and forties, in Paris and New York and Palm Beach, captured the likenesses of café society. . . This is one of my favorite recent books—and an essential reference book for designers, artists, photographers and everyone drawn to this alluring and glamorous era. The text is detailed and informative. Images of his interiors and locations capture the elegant era with perfection."
The Style Saloniste

"[Bernard Boutet de Monvel] displayed multiple artistic gifts – as painter, engraver, sculptor and fashion illustrator for Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, as well as interior decorator . . . [Bernard Boutet de Monvel: At the Origins of Art Decotells in fascinating detail the story of this life and the art that made it so."
Sotheby's Magazine 

"Boutet de Monvel painted all the top people in high society, in all their perfection. In doing so, he created some of the most perfect likenesses of the 20th century. The Maharaja of Indore, immaculate in white tie and tails, is his masterpiece, but he was capable of painting and drawing anyone in fine feathers, male or female. He has been largely neglected as most of his work is cloistered away in the family homes and vaults of his sitters, and that is why this book is so valuable in that it shows us work not seen for years, work that immortalised the perfect craftsmanship of the tailors and dressmakers who made sure that the upper crust were always perfectly clothed for their portraits, as they were for their lives of grand balls and cafe society. This book brings the era of Art Deco vividly to life in a way different to any other."
—Colin McDowell, BusinessofFashion.com