Gardening In History
I purchased this vintage poster on eBay around 2001. It hung in my daughter’s bedroom for years, with the charming, yellow Anna French wallpaper husband and I loved. The wallpaper is long gone, sadly, but the artwork now resides in our bedroom, which I guess is a fair trade. I love its peacefulness, and it brightens our north facing room.
The piece is dated 1931 and says “Concours de’ L’art a l’ecole” (School Art Competition). It is signed G. Rochette below the kneeling girl. The work is Art Deco in style and coloring, and was printed in blocks of colors. To me, it is 3 children in a garden. However, a similar piece online was described as a scene of a teacher (kneeling) with a boy (shoveling) and girl (watering can). Possibly, but I will stick with children as I like that interpretation better. Trying to figure out more about the piece, I began internet sleuthing.
To start with, the piece is referred to as a “stone” lithograph. As that was a new term for me, I did some research. A stone lithograph is made by hand, literally drawing directly onto a stone plate (other mediums are used as well nowadays). The image is secured using chemicals, the stone is inked, and is then pulled through a press. Prints made this way have very random “dots” of ink, visible with magnification, which are distinct from the mechanically reproduced “prints” with uniform dots. This lithograph is large and required a similarly large-sized press to run it through.
Clearly, the work was created in a school of art (“l’art a l’ecole”). THE art school in Paris was the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and in all likelihood this piece was from a student there. The school maintained both an “Academy of Painting and sculpture” as well as “Academy of Architecture”. Students began by studying classic art and architecture, and in advanced grades were required to compete in “cours” (competitions). I suspect this piece was produced for such a competition.
As I was researching the school for this picture, I realized I have a family heirloom hanging on my wall that also is from the Académie des Beaux-Arts. This collaged piece was assembled by my eldest sister back in 1980, around the time my parents were clearing out the box of family heirlooms. I recall there were a few other “postcard” paintings addressed to Ben Strong, but they have been lost over time. These ones, all signed (unclear) and dated around 1917 are of various landscapes with buildings around Paris. As I don’t read French, and Google can’t make heads or tails out of the writing, they remain unidentified, both the artists and the sites.
Many American students attended the school in the early 1900s through scholarships, and it seems my paternal Great Grandfather Benjamin Strong (1872 – 1928) was a sponsor of these students. They, in turn, mailed him these postcard pieces of art during their time of study. Amusingly, they addressed the envelope: Mr. Benjamin Strong Jr., Federal Reserve Bank, New York”. Mailed by boat all the way from France, before World War 1!
It is rewarding to learn the process behind their creation, and to know my Great Grandfather was a patron of the arts as well as known for creating the Federal Reserve banking system in our country. I have had the collaged piece for many years without knowing anything about it. Understanding a bit more now about Ben Strong’s personal struggles makes this piece all the more impactful. His first wife’s suicide, his second wife’s abandonment, the death of a young daughter and the separation from his two youngest daughters all occurred between 1904 and 1916. In addition, he was raising 3 children, battling tuberculous and the corresponding opioid addiction. But he still supported young artists, offering them financial help to study in Paris. I can only hope these little pieces of art brightened his life as only a moment outdoors, in the sun, among the flowers can.