Decorative Sunday

Album de la décoration from Milwaukee Public Library

This week we are highlighting a beautiful Art Nouveau decorative art portfolio held by our friends over at Milwaukee Public Library’s Central Library. It is titled Album de la décoration edited by A. Calavas, published in 1900 in Paris by Librairie des Arts décoratifs. This portfolio features beautiful floral motifs that would have been used as inspiration for designers of various decorative objects like textiles, tapestries, ceramics, wallpaper, and paintings. There were many artists that contributed to the portfolio, including L. H. Bonvallet, Henry Lambert, Henri Gillet, and G. Lebart.

A sampling of illustrations from Album de la décoration can be found online at MCAD Library’s Flickr account.

If you are local to the Wisconsin you can see all three volumes of Album de la décoration in person at Milwaukee Public Library’s Central Library. Their MPL Special Collections department also recently started an Instagram account to highlight materials from their extensive collections including art, rarities, local history, and archives. Give them a follow at mplspecialcollections on Instagram!

View other Decorative Sunday posts.

Vincent van Gogh

Digital illustration by bape.ril

Cody Fern