Museums may be closed because of the Coronavirus pandemic, but there are great online resources at the moment that allow us to fill our eyes with beauty, get distracted or do a little bit of research. It is possible to visit some exhibitions online, but, if you are a creative mind, designer or a fashion design student (and there are quite a few ones at the moment contacting us about ideas for books to read and suggestions for their dissertations...), there are some wonderful opportunities to get inspired while staying at home.
The Library of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris is for example gradually putting online the unique collection of the famous Maciet albums. A sort of Pinterest ancestor, art lover, collector and "image hunter" Jules Maciet (1846-1911) collected engravings, photographs and documents from a variety of catalogues, books and magazines.
The museum digitalised more than 250,000 images from the collection and at the moment there is a very interesting Pinterest board dedicated to it with a wide range of topics, including illustrations of costumes, Japanese textile patterns and a jewellery section featuring necklaces, bracelets, brooches and hair pieces. After Maciet's death and until 1996, the library's curators continued his work and kept on supplying certain series, so that you will be able to discover in some sections (like jewellery) also more modern pieces.
If you can read French, you have a little bit more time and are looking for something more intense that may inspire you a more in-depth research, the museum has also got a special section, a sort of collection of reportages and features about architecture, interior design, fashion and jewellery. One of the most interesting and visually invigorating essays focuses on Edouard Bénédictus (1878-1930). A chemist, painter, publicist and decorator, Bénédictus is better known for his textiles, tapestries and wallpapers. Among his achievements there is the patent in 1909 for a laminated glass process that led to the creation of the first shatterproof windscreen, an advance for the automobile industry.
Besides, during the First World War, Bénédictus worked for the War Ministry as an inventor and focused on a research on how to neutralize the effects of the mustard gas used by the Germans.
Yet Bénédictus also had a wonderful connection with the stage as, from 1918 to 1920, he designed costumes and sets, characterised by bold colours and patterns, for a variety of performances going from Shakespeare's plays to Oriental-themed fairytales and operas (the materials, donated by his widow, are preserved in the Graphic Arts department of the Museum of Decorative Arts).
Bénédictus had a passion for music and the performing arts: he was a member of the Société des Apaches, an informal group of music, art and literature lovers, that allowed him to meet famous musicians and decorators.
While it is difficult to track down all the shows for which Bénédictus worked mainly because the names of the decorators are obscured by those of the stars and playwrights, composers and directors, we know that he designed sets, curtains and costumes, and often worked with director Firmin Gémier.
We also know that he collaborated with theater decorator Émile Bertin on the representations of the One Thousand and One Nights and The Taming of the Screw, and with costume designer Marie Muelle for Les Huns by Abel Deval and Henri Béchade (performed in 1918; Bénédictus designed its sets and 225 costumes for its performers) and for Rip's Plus ça change.
In a way his style is easily recognisable as his creations revolved around bold colours, silver and gold highlights, and intricate patterns and, rather than using pre-existing fabric samples pinned on his sketches for costumes, he would come up in his drawings with entirely new textile patterns and motifs. His sketches for costumes were indeed almost testing grounds for new fabric prints.
Different genres allowed him to experiment in different ways: he explored in fairytale stories the many possibilities that fantastic scenes gave him via vibrant shades and exotic ornaments that proved he was influenced by Léon Bakst and the art of the Ballets Russes.
Smaller productions allowed him instead to study innovative solutions for the scene: for The Taming of the Screw he came up for example with a system of curtains that could be pulled aside to reveal a variety of sets, guaranteeing quick changes of scene in a compact space.
While the main connection with Bénédictus and fashion stands in his patterns, use of colours and costumes, his career is indirectly linked to Paul Poiret: the latter ceeated indeed the costumes for Rip's magical comedy Plus ça change in 1917. A year later, Bénédictus took his place, decorating the stage curtain and providing a set of extravagant costume designs. The plot allowed the artist and designer to play around with playful colour combinations, unusual materials and silhouettes.
Plus ça change tells indeed the story of the journey through time of Baron Jolibois des Sardines who fled his homeland devastated by war and his mistress who cheated on him. Aboard a time machine invented by the scientist Biscuit, he crossed the eras, from the French Revolution to prehistory via Louis XIV, Charles VI, Cleopatra's Egypt and even Greek Antiquity.
There was also another show that allowed Bénédictus to play with different themes - the opulent One Thousand and One Nights - written by Maurice Verne and directed by Firmin Gémier. Premiered at the Champs-Élysées theater in May 1920, this performance was a genuine blockbuster, with sixty artists and two hundred extras, plus a corps de ballets and musicians. Bénédictus' drawings for this show are extremely rich with details and decorative patterns inspired by his research on animal and geometric motifs.
Bénédictus was rediscovered last year with a dedicated exhibition at Paris' Musée Nissim de Camondo that helped to unravel the mystery behind some of his costume sketches. But there is certainly more to discover about this intriguing artist and, if time is on your side, you may as well try and research more on his ouvre even from the comfort of your home.
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