Book Description

The career of E. A. Seguy spanned both the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods, and he was one of the few graphic artists to incorporate both styles into his work. Original portfolios of his magnificent designs — intended as inspiration for textiles, wallpaper, and other decorative items — are highly collectible today. These 40 full-color plates, most of them geometric patterns, are derived from one of Seguy's final portfolios. They attest to the French artist's inventive gifts and the enduring appeal of his vivid patterns. Originally published in Paris in 1931, the images in this edition were rendered in striking color via the pochoir technique. The demanding, labor-intensive method employed hand stenciling to apply pigment to paper. A single print could require as many as a hundred stencils in order to achieve a depth and texture similar to watercolor or gouache paintings. The expense of the technique soon proved impractical and was abandoned, making Seguy's Prisms a particularly desirable rarity for art historians and collectors of Art Deco and Art Nouveau graphics.