Lucien Baubaut Spring: The Four Seasons

An original 1920s gouache pochoir, Lucien Baubaut, Spring: The Four Seasons.

A fantastically stylish and vibrant Art Deco pochoir print. This is 'Spring' from Lucien Babaut's series Les Quatres Saisons.

Pochoir was a stencilling technique made popular in France from 1925 after publication of Jean Saudé's treatise, Traité d'Enluminure d'Art au Pochoir. The innovative technique developed in response to the proliferation of machine printing and the poor quality of colour reproductions in publishing. It was often used in French Fashion Journals to illustrate costume styles and set the tone for haute couture in the first half of the 20th century.

Often the outline of the image was lithographed, then successive layers of colour were painted on using watercolour or gouache, applied to stencils with a brush called a pompon. Sometimes as many as 100 stencils were used to recreate a single image.

Lucien Babaut designed iconic French travel posters in the 1920s and 1930s.