Paul Berthon, Violin Lessons

1898, Lithograph on wove paper. Signed twice in the lower margin of the plate, including Paul Berthon's monogram Dry stamp "Les Maîtres de l' Affiche, Imprimerie Chaix" at the bottom right 20th century frame called "cassetta" in blue and gold painted wood in the Renaissance style with frieze of pearls, heart spokes and dentils. Some slight discoloration in the margins

“Our new art is not and should not be the continuation and development of our French art strangled by the Renaissance. We seek to create original art, with no other model than nature, no other rule than imagination and logic, using at the same time the details of French fauna and flora and following very closely the principles that made the deeply decorative medieval art. An Interview with Paul Berthon, The Poster, Vol. II, No. XI, May 1899, pp. 203. Born in Villefranche where he studied painting, drawing and sculpture, Paul Émile Berthon arrived in Paris the year he turned twenty-one. He then enrolled at the Guérin School where he took painting lessons from Luc Olivier Merson accompanied by decorative art lessons given by Eugène Grasset. He participated in the Salon for the first time in 1895 where he presented a fresco, several color lithographs, some bindings and furniture projects. During the Belle Époque, the archetype of the Art Nouveau woman was best represented in the work of three artists: Eugène Grasset, Alphonse Mucha and Paul Berthon. In 1898, Berthon's studio was located at 22, rue Denfert-Rochereau. It was that same year that he designed a horizontal poster for lessons in violin, cello and music theory given by a neighboring musician who lived in the same group of workshops. It represents a young girl with long hair released in a cascade, dressed in an embroidered medieval costume with half-sleeved lambs. Playing the violin, her eyes raised with an expression of peaceful concentration, her silhouette stands out against a background of birch trees lit by the setting sun. This poster was the first of a series of decorative panels on the theme of musical instruments, which he found extremely decorative and symbolic.
Ill.1. Paul Berthon, Mystical Concert, 1901, Decorative panel, Éditions Graphiques Gallery, London.
Ill.2. Paul Berthon, La Lyre, 1901, Decorative panel, Éditions Graphiques Gallery, London.

Our page comes from the famous series “Les Maîtres de l' Affiche“, printed by the Imprimerie Chaix, in Paris. This series was distributed via a monthly subscription to collectors. For sixty months, from December 1895 to November 1900, subscribers received by mail four loose sheets with a cover page. Bibliography Victor Arwas, Berthon & Grasset, Academy Editions London & Paris, 1978, 142 p