English
A Monumental 19th-century Achievement
Excerpt from the book 'Auguste Racinet's Le Costume historique'.
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"Our fathers handed down to us not just a knowledge of their persons but of the headwear, arms and other ornaments that they loved in their own lifetimes. The only way in which we can properly acknowledge this benefit is by doing the same for our descendants."
(Jean de La Bruyère: Les Caractères, De la mode,15)
This is the challenge thrown down by La Bruyère. And the man who rose to it was one of the most audacious of the 19th century's scholar-artists. By transforming La Bruyère's "benefit" into imagery, he ensured that a vast historical cavalcade of peoples of this earth might pass before everyone's eyes. Auguste Racinet's prestigious work on historical costume, which he completed one hundred and fifteen years ago, is justly celebrated. In its wealth of information and minutely detailed drawings, it was the first epitome of costume history to be published in France, and its scale has never been equaled. The study of costume had previously featured in manuals of archaeology as a subcategory of the study of arms; Racinet constitutes the vital link between this approach and the history of civilian costume, at the time a new and underdeveloped discipline in France.
Racinet shared with a number of French artists the stance he adopted in a controversy that raged for over a decade (1864-1875). This concerned the relationship between the liberal and industrial arts; Racinet stood alongside the collectors and scholars who founded the Union centrale des Arts décoratifs and the artists who contributed to the publications commissioned by two ministries, the Ministère de l'Instruction and the Ministère des Beaux-Arts - works published by major official houses such as Firmin-Didot.
The bookseller René Colas, author of the first Bibliographie du Costume (Bibliography of Costume, 1933), describes Racinet's work as "the most important general collection on the subject of costume: the documents were taken from earlier published series and original drawings from public collections; though not artistic, they are more than adequate in execution". Charles Auguste Albert Racinet was born in Paris on 20 July 1825. His career was representative of a group of 19th-century industrial draughtsmen, teachers of technical drawing and factory studio managers who helped to diffuse the most significant motifs of the decorative arts of the time. Like many of these men, he had learned his trade from his father; Racinet senior (also christened Charles-Auguste Racinet) was a lithographic printer. The younger Charles Auguste subsequently completed the Ville de Paris drawing course. Represented at the Salon 1849-1874 as a painter, he in fact exhibited nothing but reproductions of ancient documents from manuscripts in the Bibliothèque nationale, archeological subjects, and projects for stained-glass windows. The Musée Draguignan still possesses some Racinet paintings of scenes from the life of Charles VI and Jacques Coeur.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
"Our fathers handed down to us not just a knowledge of their persons but of the headwear, arms and other ornaments that they loved in their own lifetimes. The only way in which we can properly acknowledge this benefit is by doing the same for our descendants."
(Jean de La Bruyère: Les Caractères, De la mode,15)
This is the challenge thrown down by La Bruyère. And the man who rose to it was one of the most audacious of the 19th century's scholar-artists. By transforming La Bruyère's "benefit" into imagery, he ensured that a vast historical cavalcade of peoples of this earth might pass before everyone's eyes. Auguste Racinet's prestigious work on historical costume, which he completed one hundred and fifteen years ago, is justly celebrated. In its wealth of information and minutely detailed drawings, it was the first epitome of costume history to be published in France, and its scale has never been equaled. The study of costume had previously featured in manuals of archaeology as a subcategory of the study of arms; Racinet constitutes the vital link between this approach and the history of civilian costume, at the time a new and underdeveloped discipline in France.
Racinet shared with a number of French artists the stance he adopted in a controversy that raged for over a decade (1864-1875). This concerned the relationship between the liberal and industrial arts; Racinet stood alongside the collectors and scholars who founded the Union centrale des Arts décoratifs and the artists who contributed to the publications commissioned by two ministries, the Ministère de l'Instruction and the Ministère des Beaux-Arts - works published by major official houses such as Firmin-Didot.
The bookseller René Colas, author of the first Bibliographie du Costume (Bibliography of Costume, 1933), describes Racinet's work as "the most important general collection on the subject of costume: the documents were taken from earlier published series and original drawings from public collections; though not artistic, they are more than adequate in execution". Charles Auguste Albert Racinet was born in Paris on 20 July 1825. His career was representative of a group of 19th-century industrial draughtsmen, teachers of technical drawing and factory studio managers who helped to diffuse the most significant motifs of the decorative arts of the time. Like many of these men, he had learned his trade from his father; Racinet senior (also christened Charles-Auguste Racinet) was a lithographic printer. The younger Charles Auguste subsequently completed the Ville de Paris drawing course. Represented at the Salon 1849-1874 as a painter, he in fact exhibited nothing but reproductions of ancient documents from manuscripts in the Bibliothèque nationale, archeological subjects, and projects for stained-glass windows. The Musée Draguignan still possesses some Racinet paintings of scenes from the life of Charles VI and Jacques Coeur.
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Auguste Racinet, The Complete Costume History
Hardcover 11.4 x 17.3 in., 636 pages
$ 200.00
$ 200.00
From togas to tailcoats: a fashion time machine
Roman: Representative rich Etrusco-Greek building. Interior of the palace