French

This 1909 publication is a photograph collection of aerial views of the city of Paris and other notable nearby sites, like Versailles. The photographers, A. Schelcher and A. Omer-Decugis, produced about thirty pictures using an oblique point of view and provide a different visual of monuments like the Eiffel Tower in a perpendicular photograph. These photos show the streets and boulevards of Paris captured at a time when aerial photography was in an experimental stage and the results helped alter human perceptions of the world.

This is volume one of a three volume first edition series written and illustrated by Georges-Louis Le Rouge that describe monuments, buildings, and other ‘curiosities’ in and around Paris, Versailles, Marly, Vincennes, and Saint Cloud. They were published in 1771. This volume has 19 exquisite drawings prefacing different chapters. The combined written and visual portrayals provide a wealth of cultural information and help the reader reconstruct the architectural designs of the time.

Paris on Horseback was written and illustrated by French author and cartoonist known as Crafty, whose real name was Victor Eugène Geruzez (1840-1906), specializing in books on horses and hunting. The contents of the book are divided into sections: "Cavalry of Paris," "At the Bois de Boulogne," "At the Races," and "The Art of Falling from the Horse." These satirical and witty observations highlight the transactions and tricks that surrounded acquiring a horse from a Parisian horse dealer. It takes a comical view of French society, the racing world, the horse show, and dressage.

Carpets and Fabrics is a portfolio volume about the famous series of textile design pattern books published in 1929 by Charles Moreau in Paris. Textile artist Sonia Delaunay edited this collection of textiles, created by her contemporary Art Deco and modernist designers. Like her own work, the designs incorporate geometric shapes and abstract patterns for rugs and fabrics, the idea of modernism being that the overall design of interiors and fashion be a coordinated look.

Charles Méryon (1821 –1868) was a French artist and poet who worked almost entirely in etching, as he suffered from colour blindness. Although now little-known in the English-speaking world, he is generally recognized as the most significant etcher of 19th century France. He wrote in verses which were designed to be published alongside his images, expressing the thoughts and feelings the subjects aroused in his mind, and considered himself a poet.

Léo Dex was the pseudonym of the brillant and distinguished aeronautical engineer Edouard-Léopold-Joseph Deburaux, who was commander of a company of hot-air balloonists attached to the French Army’s First Corps of Engineers. Under his given name, he wrote many books and papers on the possible uses of hot-air balloons for exploration and warfare. His grand experiment in balloon exploration—sending hot-air balloons across the Sahara from Tunisia to the region of Timbuktu—ended in failure, and he died shortly thereafter.

The stark black publisher’s binding—contrasted with brilliant gold, blue, green, and red embellishments—would certainly have attracted any child to this astronomical children’s text. This book broke with the more traditional format of the dissemination of astronomical knowledge in France at the time, which often took place in a belles-lettres format under the pretext of a knowledgeable man conversing with a young and pretty woman.

This gilded and richly illustrated volume describes the 19th-century travels of explorer Jane Dieulafoy. Dieulafoy documented her explorations through what is now Iraq and Iran. Dieulafoy uses the expressive language of her time to describe the weather, people, cultures, and treasures she encountered. The volume includes many illustrations of the villages, ports, and bazaars she visited. The illustrations are prints from wood engravings based on the author’s photographs.

This book was written by Egyptologist Henri Brugsch in 1855. It was the first European attempt to study Demotic—the written and spoken language of the ancient Egyptian people. Brugsch’s project was recognized and supported by Frederick William IV, King of Prussia. He sponsored Brugsch’s visits to various European museums to view objects and monuments containing the Demotic language, in order to complete his knowledge of the subject. Brugsch then documented what he had learned in Grammaire Démotique. The book examines this dialect's grammar, syntax, and phonetics.

This charming binder served as the exhibition catalog for Man Ray’s second show at the Hanover Gallery in London (April-May 1969). The exhibition featured mid-career painting and sculpture from the 1940s and 50s, with clear stylistic references to Man Ray’s peers, such as De Chirico, Picabia, and Kandinsky. The metal ring binder is polished aluminum, silk-screened in bright red. The yellow-bordered pages include an essay by Man Ray, 17 illustrations (7 in full color), and a checklist.

The International Exposition of 1867 (Exposition universelle de 1867), was the second world's fair to be held in Paris and featured 703 exhibitors from the United States. This volume includes 17 highly detailed black and white photographs credited to M. Léon and J. Levy. These featured American technology-themed exhibits such as the McCormick reaper from Chicago, Weed Sewing Machine Co., W.D. Andrews & Bro. steam and gas engines, and Smiths NY Ales displaying many more than 99 bottles of beer on the wall!

This is a rare 1935 portfolio of Art Deco style pochoir printed full-color plates of designs for modern interiors. Among the designers whose work is represented in this portfolio are Francis Jourdain, Pierre Chareau, Georges Djo-Bourgeois, and the author, Henry Delacroix himself. Living rooms, children’s rooms, bedrooms, offices, dining rooms, and libraries are included, along with the room’s furnishings, such as furniture, lighting, and decorative accessories.

Paris was transformed by the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes of 1925. This portfolio of black and white photographs documents interiors and facades of popular Parisian dining and entertaining establishments. The new Paris, as created by the most prominent architects and decorators of the time, such as Charles Siclis, Pierre Patout, Robert Mallet-Stevens, Louis Sognot, and Maurice Dufrêne, among other notables, is represented in this volume.

Cassandre, pseudonym of Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron (1901 –1968), was a French painter, commercial poster artist, and typeface designer whose inventive graphic techniques show influences of Surrealism and Cubism. He was very popular in Europe and the United States during the 1930s. In 1935, Cassandre signed an exclusive contract with the firm of Draeger Freres for the French editions of his posters. Draeger, a French printer who published some of the masterpieces of French design was a pioneer of advertising.

Christophe Huet (1700-1759), French artist of the Rococo period, illustrated this rare first edition depicting examples of “singerie.” Singerie, derived from the French word “monkey trick," a visual genre which features fashionably attired monkeys humorously imitating human behavior became a popular and amusing diversion for the upper classes in 18th century France. Singerie were depicted in paintings by such artists as Jean-Antoine Watteau as well as motifs in marquetry, textiles, and porcelain.

Didier Robert de Vaugondy (1723–1786), appointed geographer of King Louis XV in 1760, created this atlas to educate young students in the basic elements of geography. With his father, Gilles Robert de Vaugondy (1688–1766), he published one of the key atlases of the century called The Atlas Universel (1757) which employed modern surveyed maps to update and correct latitude and longitude points and revise place names.

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Library owns over 4,000 photographs by American photographer and journalist Thérèse Bonney, (1894-1978), who documented life in Paris from 1925-35.

In the early 1900s, wood sculptures from Africa (long regarded as curios in the West) suddenly caught the attention of Picasso and other artists who were intrigued by the stylized treatment—simple yet powerful—of human and animal figures. Their experiments with this “new aesthetic” announced the beginning of Modernism, the shift from realism to increasing abstraction.