Illustrations of the legendary magazine La Vie Parisienne with a touch of eroticism in the Art Nouveau style

The magazine La Vie Parisienne ("Parisian life") appeared in 1863 and became very popular in the first twenty years of the twentieth century. Then the new editor-in-chief, Charles Salio, decided to make the magazine more modern. One of the "modernizing" of the magazine was the new covers - in the style of Art Nouveau, with a slight touch of eroticism.

La Vie Parisienne appeared as a weekly Parisian newspaper in 1863. Only the name Marcelin is known about its founder and publisher, but it is clear that the idea of the publication was to highlight the Parisian way of life through culture and high society. It was a kind of guide to the privileged society and creative elite of the French capital.

At the beginning of the First World War, many publishing houses went bankrupt and closed, while the remaining ones had to change in order to survive. La Vie Parisienne changed from a newspaper to a magazine at this difficult time and changed the tone of the story.

As a magazine, it became more sly, mocking, and displayed the fashion and style of the Parisian woman. At the same time, art has not disappeared from the magazine, because it has worked with such respected Parisian artists as Georges Barbier, Gerda Wegener, Cheri Herouard, and Georges Leonnec.

During the First World War, it was popular with American soldiers (General Pershing personally spoke out against reading it, but this only made the magazine more advertising); in neighboring Belgium, it was banned altogether.

Gossip, literary opuses, fashion trends — all this is familiar and over the years is not so interesting, because it was often written on the anger of the day. But the illustrations made La Vie Parisienne iconic.

La Vie parisienne was a huge success because it combined a new mix of themes — stories, veiled gossip and fashion jokes, as well as commentary on topics from love and art to the stock exchange-with beautiful cartoons and full-page color illustrations by leading artists. age. Along with this, the magazine also reflected the changing interests and values of the population of the early 20th century, such as fashion and frivolity.

Since 1905, the magazine has consistently covered trends in the so — called "new art" - this is also Art Nouveau. And this is why La Vie Parisienne is invaluable for history — it began with the exploitation of female sexuality, including in advertising (and if you think further-the pin-up girls have a French accent, although they were raised in the American outback — it is especially interesting to trace the deliciousness of awkward moments;). And here's another thing, I think-in La Vie Parisienne embodied what was previously in the air, and later became the norm for all kinds of adds-image orientation.

But if you leave for a while thoughts about how the steel of consumerism and exploitation of female sexuality was tempered, then you can fall into a state of aesthetic ecstasy, looking at the illustrations.

This magazine ran the women's destinies not only of Parisians, but also of Americans, Englishwomen, and those who wanted to be on the wave of events. Today, it would be the intellectual version of some Cosmopolitan. Intellectual because photographs replaced the most gorgeous illustrations, which were worked on by the best illustrators and artists of Paris of the Art Nouveau era.

The magazine lived until the 70s of the XX century, but the history includes only its covers of the beginning of the century-real works of modernist art. A new magazine with the same name appeared in 1984 and still exists.