• Dufrèsne, Maurice. (1876-1955) RAYON DES SOIERIES, 1930
  • Dufrèsne, Maurice. (1876-1955) RAYON DES SOIERIES, 1930

Dufrèsne, Maurice. (1876-1955) RAYON DES SOIERIES, 1930

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Dufrèsne, Maurice. (1876-1955)
RAYON DES SOIERIES, 1930
Lithographic poster on heavy wove paper

Rayon des Soieries: Opera-bouffe en un Acte. Art Deco lithographic poster on heavy wove paper in colors, signed in stone lower right. 46 1/2" high x 31 3/8" wide (119 x 79 cm) Chaix, Paris. Very good. Linen backed, minor handling marks.  Opera 17, Theaterplakate 166, La Femme 196.

French art deco period color stone lithograph poster in black, light green and pink, on paper depicting a female figure displaying silk wares. This poster was created for the comic operetta, 'Rayon des Soireries', a one-act opera set in the silk section of a department store. Dufrene not only created the poster for this opera, but also its set design and costumes.

One of the premiere French designers of the 20th Century, Maurice Dufrene was born in Paris in 1876. Educated at Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, by 1899, at the age of 23, he became the Director and Manager of La Maison Moderne. This shop represented an association of artists who were working together to create designs which could be produced in multiples.

His work was first shown at Salons in 1902, and from 1903 he regularly exhibited at Salon d'Automne and Salons of Societe Nationale des Beaux-arts. At the 1925 Paris Exposition, Internationale des ArtsDecoratifs et Industriels Modernes (which would later give the art deco movement its name), his designs included luxury boutiques, the living room of Une Ambassade Francaise pavilion, the music salon, and the interior of La Maitrise pavilion.

In 1904, Dufrene became one of the co-founders of Societe des Artistes Decorateurs which became a pivotal designers' organization and the facilitator of annual exhibitions that provided a venue for contemporary design and were well-documented by the press. He was one of the very few French designers to exhibit at the 1915 Panama-Pacific international exposition held in San Francisco.

Dufrene also designed furniture, glass, textiles, leather goods, stoneware and porcelain. He taught at the Ecole Boulle and the Ecole des Arts Appliques in Paris and was one of the principal designers of the first modernist film sets (1919 film Le Carnaval des Verites). In 1922 he became creator and director of La Maitrise design studio of Les Galeries Lafayette in Paris.