Description
1935 John the Baptist and Salome. Art Deco Pochoir Print. Joseph Hemard. 1935 by Joseph Hemard. Art-Deco: John the Baptist and Salome. 1935 by Joseph Hemard. France's most irrepressible comic illustrator, Joseph Hemard, turns his eye to the great love stories of the Western imagination — and nobody comes off well. Hémard was the man who once illustrated the French Tax Code with equal parts wit and subversion. Here he applies the same unsentimental eye to the power couples of antiquity. Salome advances on John the Baptist — jeweled, veiled, elaborately bound in red, arm extended with the focused purpose of a woman who has already done the dance and knows exactly what she requested. John kneels chained to the wall and stares back at her with the expression of a prophet who preached fearlessly in the wilderness and is now discovering that Herod's court presents a different category of problem entirely. The pochoir colors — hand-applied through stencil by the atelier of master artisan Eugène Charpentier — remain vivid nine decades later. Pochoir from 1935 on vélin de cuve paper. 6.5 x 9 inches (entire sheet). The colors are bright, paper with the pleasant cream tone of quality stock left undisturbed for ninety years. Minor handling evidence consistent with age; no tears, losses, or restoration. From a numbered limited edition of 1,000 copies. Photos of the edition number and colophon are for informational purposes and are not included in the sale. Ships flat in rigid mailer and archival sleeve between rigid stiffeners.