Seinäkoriste (3) - Ranska - Vuodenaikoja

3 Chromolithographs by Louis Victor Joseph Chalon (1866–1915)
26 x 19 cm placed on its original publishers board of 45 x 32 cm

Louis Victor Joseph Chalon (1866–1915) was a French Art Nouveau painter/sculptor who studied with Jules Lefebvre and Gustave Boulanger and became known for mythological and allegorical scenes with graceful nude women. He did lots of colour illustrations for La Vie Parisienne, L’Illustration and Le Figaro illustré and for deluxe books, often in a very ornamental Art Nouveau style.

At the bottom margin you can read “IMP. DRAEGER, PARIS” – that’s Draeger Frères, one of the top Parisian art printers from the late 19th/early 20th century, known for high-end illustrated books, posters and portfolios.
Louis Chalon’s colour series “Les Saisons” (the four seasons from Lulu, roman clownesque) was published in Revue illustrée, 15 avril 1900 (Director: F.-G. Dumas)

They were published also as illustrations for Félicien Champsaur – Saisons d’Amour et prélude musical. Chanson juanesque par Massenet, Paris, Jean Bosc, ca. 1900–1907.
The plate was part of a Portfolio d’Art launched around 1904, as a new Baschet publication using 25 years’ worth of accumulated artwork and proofs. For this reason it was placed on a think paper background with the name of the artist.
It was published in Paris by the Baschet family’s Librairie d’Art, under the imprint R. Baschet, at 12, rue de l’Abbaye, Paris.