Serge Gladky - Art Deco Colorful Composition - Original Pochoir C.1925

Serge Gladky - Art Deco Colorful Composition Original Pochoir Circa 1925 33 x 26 cm So what is a ''pochoir?'' In its most basic sense, it is a stencil. By the 1920’s and 1930’s, the color application process of the stencil again popular with the French, especially in terms of bringing color illustrations to mass-printed materials. The increasing use of machine printing and the poor quality of color reproductions in publishing brought about a need for pochoir printing. is regarded as one of the pioneers in the modern pochoir process, although the style of his work was not necessarily modern. It was Gladky who pioneered the combination of moderne style along with modern process. Gladky had the genius of adopting the pochoir process for his modernist work. He has stated that his inspiration for these pochoirs came from nature, either landscapes or wild creatures, and that his eastern travels provided influence as well. I have to admit that on several of these, I see no resemblance to nature at all, but as I mentioned before, who really cares? They are like ice cream: Some flavors are amazing, some not so much but still tasty, and what we like is entirely subjective so why bother to explain it too much. A prominent figure in the Art Deco movement and a leading precursor of modern abstract art, Serge Gladky was a French architect, designer, and graphic artist, who was active during the 1920s and 30s. He was primarily renowned for his cubist style, and his decorative abstract prints were characterized by the creative, harmonious synthesis of geometric forms derived mostly from nature. Although inspired by natural motifs, his ornamental patterns were imaginative abstract interpretations rather than literal depictions of these subjects. In 1928, Gladky published his most well known work, Nouvelles Compositions Decoratives, a collection of vibrant, fanciful designs of animals, plants, fish, birds, and insects.