Le Bon Marché By Flix Vallotton
Flix Edouard Vallotton was a Swiss and French painter and printmaker associated with the group of artists known as Les Nabis. He was an important figure in the development of the modern woodcut. He painted portraits, landscapes, nudes, still lifes, and other subjects in an unemotional, realistic style. For a period of ten years from 1891 to 1901, Flix Vallotton focused almost exclusively on printmaking, which contributed greatly to his international renown. For the most part, his woodcuts illustrated Parisian life in the 1890s, which he described with verve and humor. Vallotton was daring in his compositions and created highly simplified motifs to achieve striking effects, always in black and white. Close to the experiments of the French avant-garde (including Postimpressionism, Art Nouveau, and the Nabis) he eliminated nuanced shadows and excess detail in favor of concise forms and sharp contrasts. Le Bon March Rive Gauche was the first department store in the world. It opened in 1852 in Paris and it still exists. It was very popular at the time; even the French writer mile Zola was inspired by the story of the store for his novel Au Bonheur des Dames.
