Art Nouveau’s Lady

Jane Atché was a French poster artist of the Art Nouveau. She created posters for several important brands of the time. Also she made decorative panels as Le Gui et le Houx (1898), La Femme aux pavots (1899), and La Cigarette l’Éventail, shown at the Salon of 1903.

She became known during the Exhibition of French and Foreign Art Posters in 1896 at Cirque Reims in France, by that time she was 24 years old. In this exhibition the public could see her poster for Job cigarette papers which preceded the two posters made by Alfons Mucha to the same brand.

Alfons Mucha and her were close, they were working with identical media and they both produced advertisements.  Their works were close too as the medallion Meditation made by her and the poster Byzantine Heads by Mucha that were produced in the same year.

She designed menus for Desiles wines and the Café de Paris, illustrated scores for Durand&Fils and produced publicity posters for Vincent Chocolates and Cycles Peugeot.

Her work was markedly Art Nouveau and presented some female freedom. But with the pass of the time, her style became more symbolist at the same time that her subjects more religious.

Between the years 1901-1905 she illustrated short stories and tales for the magazine La Poupée modèle, which was read by young girls. In 1908, she exhibited a self-portrait titled Sur l’aile des songes, where she is depicted sitting thoughtfully holding with her right hand a cigarette.

After she became a member of the Society of French Artists, she exhibited paintings at the Salon of the Union of Women Painters and Sculptors.

In 1910 se decided to disappeared of public life, although she painted for the rest of her life.

References:

• Musées d’Occitanie: Collection Jane Atché – Musée du Pays rabastinois (in French)
• Editions “Le pont du nord” – Jane Atché (in French)
• Aware Women Artists – Jane Atché (English – French)
• The Athenaeum – Jane Atché artworks
• Wikimedia Commons