| Ironically,
given the influence of his brilliant cubist inspired work , scant
biographical information is available for Serge
Gladky.
Working in Paris in the 1920s, his efforts
produced some of the finest modern designs in a field crowded with
competitors and imitators. His reputation rests primarily with two
portfolios of design, executed by pochoir in the 1920s. Nouvelles
Compositions Decoratives, 1 and 2.
Carrying on a tradition and a technique
popularized near the end of the previous century, by such pioneers as Eugene
Grasset, Gladky refined the process of pochoir and streamlined and
simplified his images to a point that today his work is a most evocative
example of what we now refer to as ART DECO design.
Taking his cue from nature, he rendered
birds, insects, animals and plants in stylized groupings of decorative
patterns.
Gladky was in illustrious company. Similar
ground breaking portfolios were created by such luminaries as A. E.
Seguy, E. Benedictus and Sonia Delaunay. Other than Delaunay,
whose work with colour juxtaposition was truly inspired, Gladky’s
sympathetic and innovative use of colour was among the most effective of
his contemporaries.
The utilization of the Pochoir process was
ideally suited to the subject matter. Indeed, our understanding and
appreciation of the ART DECO print, makes it difficult to imagine this
type of image executed in a format other than this most distinctive method
of hand coloured stenciling. |
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