[WOMAN PRINTER / ORIGINAL DESIGNS FOR HER EX-LIBRIS]. "Dessins / Ex libris / M. Fequet" Paul Baudier (artist). Marthe Fequet (subject) Art and Design,Book Arts,Boston Book Fair 2025,Women's Studies

Original graphite designs for bookplates of Marthe Fequet on two large sheets of thick paper (270 x 415 mm), edges untrimmed, folded once to produce four pages, on the first blank page is boldly written "Dessins / Ex libris / M. Fequet." ORIGINAL ARTWORK FOR THE (UNREALIZED?) BOOKPLATE OF MARTHE FEQUET, ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PRINTERS OF LIVRES D'ARTISTE DURING THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE ILLUSTRATED BOOK IN FRANCE. She succeeded her father, typographer and pressman Emile Fequet, before going into partnership with Pierre (Albert) Baudier. Together they ran one of the most important fine art printing studios in Paris. Marthe Fequet was close to many of the leading artists of the day, including Matisse, Picasso, Chagall, Braque, Hans Arp, Lanskoy, Derain, Chillida, Rouault, Miro, and Nicolas de Stael, who trusted her on account of her exactitude, creativitiy, sensitivity, and understanding of their work. She was already an established typographer when Pierre Baudier joined her studio, and together they were created some of the most beautiful livres d'artiste of this era, including Matisse's Visages (1946), Georges Braque's Hesiode Theogonie (1955), Picasso's Helene chez Archimede (1955), Hajdu's Le Corps clairvoyant (1963), Hans Arp's Soleil Recerle (1966), and many others. Fequet & Baudier were favored by distinguished publishers Ambroise Vollard, Martin Fabiani, Pierre Lecuire, Aime Maeght, Louis Broder and Gerard Cramer. There are a total of eight bookplate designs, including three showing Marthe Fequet facing her composing desk, and three of a printing press (one is dripping with spilled ink). Although unsigned, these drawings come from the archive of the artist Paul Baudier (1881-1962), the father of Pierre, and were most assuredly made by him, probably in the Fequet & Baudier studio.