- Lot 273

Lot n° 273
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Estimation :
200 - 250 EUR
- Lot 273
[HANDBAGS] Helen MAI PSEUDONYM OF JEANNE LARTIGUE (PARIS, AUGUST 12, 1903 - PARIS, JANUARY 1995) - Set of 5 bag projects: 2 day bags, 1 day clutch and 2 evening bags. In sheets. 4 projects on white canson, 1 on grey canson. +/- 500 x 322 mm. 1.- "Paillote". Project of a beige embossed leather or plastic bag, with a natural wood mounting and white coarse cotton. Rounded handle, faces decorated with small pastilles with a white cross. Project fixed on light havana canson, formed of collages of wood and assorted paper, the bag is surrounded by light lines of white-silver gouache forming filaments. Signed lower left, title and annotations in black ink in the margin. 205 x 220 mm. 2 - "Paris: Notre-Dame, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower". Sketch in black and white, on black canson, of a day pocket with 3 compartments, each one having its own closure. Signed at the bottom in the margin. 280 x 185 mm. 3 - "Twesday" [sic]. Project of a day bag in large beige canvas and decorated with a wide striped wool braid of various colors. The bag, presented with different collages of paper and wool, is placed on a coffee table drawn in white ink and bearing the signature of the artist. Title and annotations in white ink in the margin. 230 x 230 mm. 4 & 5 - 2 clutches or small evening bags, in black, different shapes and clasps. Gouache on blue-gray or light tan canson. Both signed. 170 x 215 and 185 x 215 mm. TOGETHER 5 PROJECTS. Helen MAI pseudonym of Jeanne LARTIGUE (Paris, August 12, 1903 - Paris, January 1995). Numbers 261 to 275 present a very nice selection of original gouaches for projects intended for the textile of furnishing or clothing as well as projects of handbags. The vast majority of these models are signed by her or stamped with her Parisian address on Boulevard Raspail. Abstract and cubist painter, designer, ceramist, mosaicist, sculptor, etc.. Helen Mai, a multi-talented artist, relative of the famous photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue, has created numerous ceramic pieces, mosaics and enamels, models for the decorative arts and fashion (designs for African inspired fabrics). Many of her works have been acquired by Jean Lelong. She has exhibited at the Salon d'Automne, La Grande Chaumière and the Lucy Krogh Gallery. In the field of decoration, she is best known for having practiced encaust painting, thus rediscovering the secrets of the ancient frescoes of Pompeii or Fayoum. This technique with burnt colors, used by the great masters of Greek and Roman painting and then Byzantine. Helen Mai has rediscovered this painting, using a hot iron instead of a brush to apply a colored wax to fix it on the support, by burning it. We find different techniques mixed in the projects presented here (bags, then fabrics and papers). The same richness of inspiration in all these motifs which are nourished by nature, and also by various cultures and periods.
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