Arcadian Spring

'Arcadian Spring'

An Art Deco oil on canvas laid down on board, painted at the height of the Art Deco movement. The calm and bright colours perfectly compliment the serene composition. Of all the Gazette artists, Marty was perhaps the most romantic and elegant. It is rare to find such an important and grand example by this artist.

Artist: Andre-Edouard Marty (French, 1882-1974)
Marty began studying at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, in the studio of Fernand Cormon. It was at the Ecole des Beaux Arts that he met the artists Georges Lepape, Charles Martin and Pierre Brissaud, all of whom were also to work as fashion illustrators. He also came under the particular influence of the illustrator Maurice Boutet de Monvel, reflected in the refined and elegantly stylized figures found in his own work as an illustrator. In 1910 Marty was commissioned to design a poster advertising the Ballets Russes at the Opéra; the drawing for this is today in the collection of the Musée de la Publicité in Paris. After the First World War Marty continued to provide illustrations for the Gazette du Bon Ton, as well as for Vogue, Vanity Fair, L’Illustration des Modes, Monsieur, Harper’s Bazaar, Le Sourire and House and Garden. He also illustrated around fifty books, most notably Henri de Regnier’s Scènes Mythologiques, published in 1924, and produced designs for posters for London Transport. Working with the Compagnie des Arts Français, Marty contributed to the decoration of the Pavillon Fontaine at the seminal Exposition internationale des Arts Décoratifs et industriels modernes of 1925 (from which the Art Deco movement took its name) and was a prominent jury member of the same exhibition. Twelve years later, at the Exposition Internationale of 1937, Marty again worked alongside Süe on the decoration of the jardin d’hiver of the Pavillon de la Société des Artistes Décorateurs, painting four wall panels devoted to the subjects of Pole Vaulting, Horseback Riding, Basketball and Tennis. Exhibitions of Marty’s work were held in Paris at the Galerie Georges Petit in 1912, the Galerie Levesques in 1913, and at the Galerie Lucien Vogel and the Galerie Devambez in the 1920s. In the 1930s Marty worked as a costume and set designer for the theatre, cinema and ballet. Later he also produced designs for enamel vases, plates and jewellery.

Signed 'A.E.MARTY' (lower right)

Dimensions: H 165cm, W 135cm 

Origin: French

Date: Circa 1920

Item no: 3110191