Signed presentation inscription: “Aucun hommage d'une ancienne élève ne pouvait m'être plus sensible, car ce beau livre a été complètement réalisé à l'école 'Art et publicité' par les moyens du bord. Il prouve éloquemment la raison d'être de cette institution, l'excellence de son enseignement et sa vitalité. 14, rue de Fleurus. 30 déc. 1934. Bruneau,” with the signatures of the artisans who took part in the making of the book: Dufour, Denonain, Ogé, Zabeth.
Professor Bruneau added on the endpaper: “ouvrage de luxe qui m'a été offert en 1934 par l'auteur en présence d'une délégation de professeurs et d'élèves. Paris, 14 rue de Fleurus. Bruneau.”
Fine Art Deco binding executed by the sisters Andrée and Jeanne Langrand: after studying at the UCAD from 1909 to 1913, Jeanne Langrand became a teacher there in 1919, while her sister Andrée served as director of the institution until 1934. Jeanne later established her own workshop, producing bindings of a sober and intelligent design inspired by those of Pierre Legrain. “Fascinated by Legrain, she created, whether alone, together with her sister, or even with Geneviève de Léotard, bindings of great sobriety combined with undeniable strength” (Yves Peyré). She took part in numerous exhibitions between 1920 and 1939. In January 1927, an article in the journal Art et décoration paid tribute to Jeanne Langrand’s work, “whose simple art, respectful of the leather, knows how to enhance itself with a sober and meaningful decoration, more ornamental than symbolic” (Fléty, p. 104).
Bruneau, a drawing teacher at the École Boulle and at the Arts décoratifs, experimented with and developed his teaching methods within “Art et Publicité,” a free school open to all, which he founded in 1920. A film he released with Gaumont in 1921, L’Enseignement du dessin et le cinématographe, documents his pedagogy. In it, he juxtaposes film excerpts shown at normal, accelerated or slowed speed, related student work, and quotations from the great masters of Western art. A friend of Louis Lumière, he was the founder of the Cinémathèque of the City of Paris.
The book is probably a unique copy, or one printed in only a few copies for Bruneau and those who collaborated on it. No other copy is recorded, not even at the dépôt légal.
It is the work of Elisabeth Zabeth, a painter and watercolorist, who had been Bruneau’s student at his school in the early 1920s. Several of her works are held in public collections (Musée de Troyes, Palais du Sénat, Hôtel d’Alma). She died the year her book was created, in 1933.
Spine faded.