Old is gold

EMMANUELLE DUTHU, with L’Alliance Francaise and La Maison d’Hotes in Dubai recently exhibited a large choice of authentic prints mostly from the 19^th century, by famous French printers.

With an arabesque design in architecture and interior design, La Maison d’Hote’s calming neutral shades of beige and white created the perfect ambience for the 70 prints which were displayed for visitors, as they tentatively studied the prints in an almost nostalgic atmosphere.

Emannuelle, who organised the exhibition, used to work for 8 years in the museum Dorsay in Paris, said: “I was very involved in the 19^th century field. In addition, my parents used to sell antique books in their shop, so they already had a lot of prints. I bought a lot in flea markets and bookshops.”

All were printed in Paris and come from very different backgrounds. Some depict the Middle East, while others are prints or engravings of other cities such as Madrid, Amsterdam, Bruxelles, Rome. Other subjects include of fruits and flowers, animals, angels to name a few.

Some of the highlights that were on display was a map of the Middle East printed in 1780, a 1946 photo engraving signed by the known illustrator Cocteau, an original print of The lion Sacred by A. Chauffour from 1700, as well as photo engravings and publicity ads of international brand names and publications such as Lancome, Harper’s magazine, Hermes and Alfa Romeo to name a few.