{"id":43230,"date":"2025-03-25T12:15:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T16:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/?post_type=product&p=43230"},"modified":"2025-03-25T14:18:55","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T18:18:55","slug":"marine-life-seaweed-belet-la-vegetation-sous-marine-antique-print-1900","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/product\/marine-life-seaweed-belet-la-vegetation-sous-marine-antique-print-1900\/","title":{"rendered":"Marine Life, Seaweed, Belet, La Vegetation Sous-Marine, Antique Print, 1900"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emile Belet was an Art Nouveau painter and designer, and is identified on the title page of La V\u00e9g\u00e9tation Sous-Marine<\/strong> as a ceramist from the national factory at S\u00e8vres, France\u2019s leading manufacturer of fine ceramics and porcelain. \u202f\u202fThis further supports the proposition that this and like works were intended in part for designers of ceramics.\u202f \u202fIn addition to the aforementioned work published by Guerinet, he also authored and illustrated a collection of designs for S\u00e9vres porcelain, Mod\u00e8les & documents modernes pour la (porcelaine), la bijouterie et les arts appliqu\u00e9s (1900).<\/p>\n

Excerpt from the introduction by Belet (with our translation):<\/p>\n

\u201cMais si dans l\u2019oeuvre de la nature les algues offrent \u00e0 la science un vaste champ d\u2019\u00e9tude ces v\u00e9g\u00e9taux apportent \u00e9galement a l\u2019art et aux artistes, un contingent precieux d\u2019\u00e9l\u00e9ments decoratifs presque ignor\u00e9. Choisis dans l\u2019 immense vari\u00e9t\u00e9 des algues sous marines, nous n\u2019avons reproduit en cet ouvrage, que les types bien caracteris\u00e9s offrant un interet artistique special, soit par leur organization leurs formes ou leurs couleurs. Pr\u00e9sent\u00e9 sous une forme decorative, cet ouvrage sera certainement accueilli avec faveur, ayant tenu avant tout a reproduire scrupuleusement le dessin de ces v\u00e9g\u00e9taux, et la richesse de leurs couleurs quelque fois \u00e9clatantes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026But if within the works of nature the seaweeds offer to science a vast field of study, these vegetations supply as well to art and to artists a valuable array of decorative elements, all but ignored.\u202f Chosen from the immense variety of underwater seaweeds, we have reproduced in this work only the characteristic types of special artistic interest, because of their arrangement of forms or their colors.\u202f Presented in a decorative format, this work will certainly be favorably received, our having promised above all to scrupulously reproduce the design of these plants and the richness of their sometimes dazzling colors.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Collections of prints like these were popular at the turn of the century, providing source material for designers of fabrics, wallpaper, ceramics, book illustrations, posters, and advertisements.\u202f The leading Victorian publication of this type was Owen Jones\u2019s Grammar of Ornament, first issued in a folio edition in London in 1856.\u202f Other trendsetting styles in art, design, decoration and fashion came from Paris.\u202f The best know are probably the works by \u00c9mile-Alain S\u00e9guy incorporating butterfly and insect motifs, and those by Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919), a professor of zoology, at the University of Jena, Germany.\u202f Haeckel\u2019s scientific illustrations depicted aquatic organisms such as radiolarians, jellyfish, sea urchins and so forth in flowing, aesthetically striking compositions, such as were included in his work Kunstformen der Natur [Art Forms in Nature]<\/strong> (1899-1904). \u202fOther prolific publishers of this type of work were Anton Seder, Armand Gu\u00e9rinet and Ars\u00e8ne Herbinier.\u202f Closely related to Seder\u2019s renditions of aquatic motifs were the designs of Emile Belet.\u202f Indeed, various works by S\u00e9guy, Herbinier and Belet appeared together in a collection of color plates published in 1900 by Guerinet titled Peinture d\u2019Art Nouveau, 3e s\u00e9rie<\/strong>.\u202f In the summer of 2004, the Museum at FIT (the Fashion Institute of Technology) exhibited a print by Herbinier in a similar style, also published by A. Gu\u00e9rinet, from a collection called Frises, bordures, panneaux au pochoir [Friezes, borders, and panels in pochoir<\/strong>].<\/p>\n

Credits on the bottom of each plate: \u201cAr. Guerinet Editeur 140 Faubourg Saint-Martin, Paris. Heliotypic E. Le Deley, 73, Rue Claude Bernard, Paris.\u201d<\/p>\n

Condition: Generally very good with the usual overall light toning, handling, wear. Some with small scattered inkspots occurring in printing process, unobtrusive.<\/p>\n

References:<\/p>\n

\u201cBeaux Arts Appliqu\u00e9s, Architecture et Histoire.\u201d\u202f Antiques World Belgium.\u202f<\/em> http:\/\/www.awb.be\/auctions\/sadeleer\/catal1.html (11 March 2005).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Art of Pattern, Line and Design.\u201d\u202f The Artful Line: Drawings & Prints from FIT\u2019s Special Collections of the Gladys Marcus Library.<\/em>\u202f (image upper right) http:\/\/www3.fitnyc.edu\/museum\/artful_line\/pattern.htm (9 December 2004).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Emile Belet (after)
\nE. le Deley (heliotype printer)
\nPrints of Underwater Vegetation and Other Marine Life<\/strong>
\nfrom La Vegetation Sous-Marine [Underwater Vegetation]<\/strong>
\nArmand Gu\u00e9rinet, 140 Faubourc Saint-Martin, Paris: 1900
\nHeliotypes in color
\n13.5 x 9 inches image
\n15.75 x 11.5 inches overall
\nPrices Vary, $450 to $950 each<\/p>\n

A series of prints incorporating seaweed with other marine imagery into innovative, elaborate, Art Nouveau designs. They range from fairly naturalistic compositions to designs for decorative arts objects and motifs abstracted from seaweed forms.\u202f Belet\u2019s stated intention in the introduction to this work was to draw attention to the underappreciated artistic possibilities of seaweed, with its variety of forms and \u201crich, sometimes dazzling colors.\u201d\u202f The sinuous lines and incorporation of naturalistic motifs are typical of Art Nouveau, though other Victorian stylistic influences are also present.\u202f In addition to seaweed, Belet incorporates fish, crabs, shrimp, and shells.\u202f A numbered key in the final plate identifies various sealife used throughout the work and in which plates they are illustrated.<\/p>\n

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