Henri Laurens (1885-1954) - Aquarelle

Henri Laurens - Original gouache stencil from 1929

Printed by Daniel Jacomet
Edition of 1500
Perfect condition
Sheet 21 x 27 cm
Stencil 14.5 x 14.5 cm

In 1929, the stencil is an extremely meticulous artisanal craft method, mainly used for fashion and luxury Art Deco publishing.

The work rests on the manual coloring of a sheet on which the outlines have been pre-printed. Artisans cut with scalpels sheets of brass, zinc or celluloid — one plate for each shade, sometimes requiring up to 80 stencils for a single image. Using round brushes, sponges or cotton, colorists then apply gouache.

This method offers a unique result: patches of pure colors, a matte surface with perceptible relief, and gradients impossible to reproduce with mechanical printing. Long and costly, the technique gradually faded at the beginning of the 1930s in the face of the development of industrial printing processes.