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ROUILLAC
243
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Yvonne Mottet (French, 1906–1968)
See original version (French)
243
-
Yvonne Mottet (French, 1906–1968)
See original version (French)
Estimate €500
Voluntary lot
Description
Yvonne Mottet (French, 1906–1968)
Mock-ups and colour studies for textile designs, 1936–49
A collection of over 100 pencil and gouache sketches, in both small and large formats, on thick paper and tracing paper, drawn between 1936 and 1949, featuring floral, graphic and stylised motifs, a number of which are painted in solid blocks of bright colour.
Some drawings are numbered in pencil (catalogue references), whilst others bear the official registration stamp of the artistic property syndicate with the handwritten note ‘Design registered by Mademoiselle Mottet’ and are dated.
These trial sketches, intended for haute couture houses, are essential for understanding her role as a designer. Before sketching a complex pattern, it was necessary to define the ‘colour scheme’, or colour harmony, that would appeal to silk buyers and fashion designers. This work bears witness to Yvonne Mottet’s talent as a colourist. It is this very same mastery of pure, vibrant and bold colours that she would retain and transpose, years later, into her paintings on canvas.
Enclosed: 7 figurative portraits drawn by Yvonne Mottet, on paper, various sizes, in pencil and oil, some signed. These include a study of a First Communion girl surrounded by her parents, rendered in three sketches in pencil, ink and oil.
Provenance: the artist’s estate.
Yvonne Mottet, designer of motifs for haute couture
Although Yvonne Mottet (1906–1968) is best known today as a leading figure in post-war figurative painting, particularly within the Jeune Peinture movement, her career between the two world wars was devoted almost exclusively to textile design and haute couture. This period of her life revolved around two key phases which laid the foundations for her future as a painter.
Les Soieries Ducharne (1927–1930)
In October 1927, Yvonne Mottet joined the design studio of the renowned silk house Ducharne, located on Rue Tourlaque in Paris. At that time, she described herself as a ‘designer’ rather than a painter. It was in this veritable creative laboratory that she met Bernard Lorjou, a pattern maker and silk designer, who would become her partner for the rest of her life.
Within a few years, Soieries F. Ducharne became a key institution in the world of luxury. The company forged exclusive ties with the elite of the haute couture world of the time: Paul Poiret, Madeleine Vionnet, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jean Patou, Coco Chanel, Edward Molyneux, Lucien Lelong, and later Christian Dior, Cristóbal Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent.
Independence and international success (the 1930s and post-war period)
Hit hard by the Great Depression, Soieries Ducharne closed its workshop in 1930. Mottet and Lorjou then decided to continue designing fabric patterns for haute couture as independent designers. Their success was immense: their designs were purchased by manufacturers in New York, London and Tokyo, and were worn by figures such as the Duchess of Windsor. This exceptional commercial success during the 1930s proved decisive: it provided the couple with genuine financial security, enabling them, in the words of the time, to ‘paint in peace’. It was only in the aftermath of the Second World War, buoyed by this financial stability, that Yvonne Mottet turned her back on textiles to make her mark on the art scene by co-founding the L’Homme témoin group in 1948.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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