François-Louis Schmied (born November 8, 1873 in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

; died January 1941 in Tahanaout,

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

), was a French painter,

wood engraver Wood engraving is a printmaking technique, in which an artist works an image or ''matrix'' of images into a block of wood. Functionally a variety of woodcut, it uses relief printing, where the artist applies ink to the face of the block and pr ...

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James ...

, editor, illustrator, and bookbinder of Swiss origin. Of Swiss origin, François-Louis Schmied established himself in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, where he was later naturalized, and ultimately was exiled in Morocco around 1931 or 1932. He is considered a major artist in the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style, particularly in the area of publishing for bibliophiles. He is the father of engraver Théo Schmied, who directed François-Louis Schmied's workshop beginning in 1924. In 1910 Schmied was commissioned to engrave and print Paul Jouve's illustrations for The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. This book was finally published in 1919 and brought Schmied considerable attention. The success of the production allowed Schmied to expand his operations, purchase a Stanhope handpress, and hire a group of craftsmen who helped Schmied execute some of his most famous and pioneering works such as Les Climats (1924), Daphne (1924), and Le Cantique des Cantiques (1925). Schmied books were very expensive to produce and were always printed in a very limited edition, usually numbering no more than 100-200 copies. His marketing strategy was to display sheets of his work in progress at an annual Parisian art fair and seek out the subscription of wealthy bibliophiles and other interested organizations. During the "Roaring 20s" it was not difficult to find suitable patrons, but with the onset of The Great Depression, the economic climate could no longer support Schmied's expensive projects and eventually he was forced to sell off virtually all his assets and close down his shop.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmied, Francois-Louis 1873 births 1941 deaths Death in Morocco Bookbinders French publishers (people) Swiss emigrants to France

See also

References