From the Age of La Peinture en Lettres
A kaleidoscopic survey of letterforms from nineteenth- and twentieth-century France, Lettres Décoratives includes more than 150 plates from grand lithographic albums printed at the height of the sign painter’s craft. Originally made to demonstrate styles and inspire artists to decorate cities with increasingly colorful, adventurous, and refined forms, these portfolios preserve a rich visual history of urban alphabets. An introduction by practitioner Morgane Côme explores the story of French sign painting and its historic albums, while additional texts shed light on their contents. Featuring dozens of monumental alphabets, Lettres Décoratives is a portal to the past, as well as a valuable resource for contemporary sign painters and designers today.