La Belle Epoque. In this lively album Sem illustrates pre war fashion with numerous illustrations of fashionable ladies in fashionable hats.

Georges Goursat, or SEM (1863–1934), was a very famous French artist of the beginning of the twentieth century, the golden age of illustrated magazines and newspapers. He drew numerous caricatures of his contemporaries, published in newspapers such as L'Illustration and Le Rire, or in albums of his own. Attending fashionable events in casinos, horse races and Parisian cabarets and restaurants, he rubbed shoulders with the high society all the time, which became his favorite subject of depiction.

"Sem had a remarkable ability to capture the characteristic feature of the face rather than providing its likeness. His albums of Parisian life authentically reflect the physiognomy of the famous era of the 1900s" (Benezit)

Folio ( 47 x 53 cm). 22pp of text with coloured illustrations, 16 pages of full page pochoir prints,all bound in printed decorated covers with large gold scissors as a motif, slightly spotted on upper cover, some minor wear to the edge; overall a very good copy.

Benezit vol. 12 p.981.