The Bibliothèque Forney is a Parisian public library specializing in decorative arts and created in 1886 by a legacy left by the manufacturer Samuel-Aimé Forney. It holds one of the richest collections in France devoted to crafts and craftsmanship, fine arts, decorative arts, and graphic arts, with famous collections of posters, fabrics, wallpapers, textile samplers, and ephemera. The Bibliothèque Forney can also be considered one of the first public lending art libraries in France. From the library's opening in the nineteenth century to the year 2000, craftspeople and craft students, artists, and art students could not only browse collections of book illustrations, prints, drawings, photographs, and even printed fabric samples, but also borrow art images to use as models or sources of inspiration.
Since 1886, the Bibliothèque Forney has adapted to the social changes with craftsmen becoming fewer and fewer and art history students more and more numerous. Today this collection of pictures is still available on an open-access basis in the special collections reading room (all except the most precious images), but plates can no longer be borrowed. The collection has traversed from great success in the nineteenth and most of the twentieth century to rapid decline with the expansion of the internet in the 1990s, followed most recently by new interest from artists and researchers. The history of this collection highlights the librarians’ efforts to meet the evolving needs of researchers looking for easily reachable art; their work to keep up with modernity; and efforts to add value for their users.
‘Come along, we'll lend to you’ Footnote 1
As soon as the library opened in 1886, craftsmen, workers, artists and students were not only able to browse freely through a collection of art and crafts pictures - a practice already in place at the Parisian Bibliothèque des arts décoratifs with the creation of the Maciet albums – but also to borrow them. In 1881, the Commission de surveillance de la bibliothèque professionnelle d'art et d'industrie Forney had proposed the creation of an iconographic image collection that could be borrowed at home to serve as a model for craftsmen, artists and art workers or to help them to study art history: ‘It would undoubtedly be much more profitable for a worker to take home, far from a room open to all, a drawing that he could, at leisure and with complete peace of mind, apply himself either to copying or tracing, or to physically reproducing, tools in hand. It seems that the need for economy and the interest of the public could be easily reconciled by setting up a special collection of loanable prints and photographs; books and collections would never leave the library, but loose plates, glued on cardboard or canvas for greater sturdiness, could be taken home. (…) This library requires special furniture, with tables large enough to allow large volumes, prints and plans to be opened, developed and easily read; each reader must have a larger seat than in other libraries. In addition, if drawing and tracing are authorised, a special model of table or desk should be adopted for this purpose. In this case, too, racks or cardboard boxes, separate from the shelves used to classify reading books, will be needed to store the plates that can be traced. Once the various pieces of furniture have been chosen, they will need to be arranged according to their size and according to the number and direction of the windows, the question of lighting being of particular importance for a room intended above all for the study and copying of drawings, plans and sketches’.Footnote 2 The art pictures could be studied at the library or at home (depending on their value), with the free supply of a box to take the prints home.
Championed by the library's first curator, Julien Sée (1884–1908), the creation of loanable collections democratised access to models through pictures. The Bibliothèque Forney was a great success, attracting craftsmen, workers and students alike. ‘Nothing is more picturesque or suggestive than an evening session at Forney: it looks like a beehive at work. You can see woodworkers from the Faubourg, fabric designers from the Sentier, jewellers and goldsmiths from the Marais, side by side with students from art schools (Arts décoratifs, Bernard-Palissy, Germain-Pilon) or professional establishments (Arts et Métiers, Boulle, Diderot, etc.)’ noted librarian Georges Rémon before the Great War.Footnote 3
‘It's almost like being at home !’Footnote 4
At the beginning, the models were classified into eight divisions: art (general), stone (i.e. architecture), wood (which includes furniture), bronze, iron, gold and silver, clay (i.e. all the arts of fire) and fabric. These divisions were highlighted as a key to access in the library regulations stated in the free loan booklets given to readers. The second volume of the library's general catalogue, compiled by the librarians Henri Clouzot and Georges Rémon and published in 1915, was devoted to the picture and loanable collections.
Open access collection in the reading room of the Bibliothèque Forney on Titon Street, around 1930. Credit: Bibliothèque Forney / Ville de Paris.
Direct access to images by subject served craftsmen less familiar with the written word, however, the guidance of librarians through this ocean of pictures was essential, both on site and at a distance. In 1929, Le Petit Journal emphasised that ‘Forney is very active. People come to Mr. Gabriel Henriot and his devoted assistants not only to ask for models, but also for a thousand pieces of information. The craftsman is not often a “bookworm”; he has to be guided through a library (…). And here's something even more modern. If you phone Forney to ask for a model of a certain type - I suppose for a decorator, a beautiful model of an eagle in full flight - we look for it in the collections, we prepare it and you can send someone to pick it up if you don't go yourself’.Footnote 5
Several authors, scholars, librarians and journalists have pointed out that at Forney, unlike the French National Library, artists and craftsmen could use tracing paper to study or reproduce diagrams and motifs. Older prints still bear traces of these uses, for example square gridding before transferring or ink and paint stains.
The number of prints that could be borrowed and the loan period increased in proportion to the growth of the collection and its success. In 1910, the collection of iconographic plates included 85,228 prints, photographs and illustrations. Five plates could be borrowed for a period of 21 days; 18,465 prints were loaned out in the course of the year to the 4,000 or so registered readers. After the war, the collections were expanded: 100,000 prints by the end of 1922; the volume of loans had tripled. In 1952, the collection reached a volume of 250,000 plates. In the 1950s, a reader could borrow 10 plates for a fortnight.
From the 1950s onwards, under the guidance of the curator Jacqueline Viaux (1948–1961), the audience continued to diversify: craftsmen, workers, apprentices, pupils at professional schools, students, artists, decorators and publishers. In 1959, in the magazine Parents d'élèves, Jacqueline Viaux emphasised the educational value of the collection: ‘I'm thinking of the history teacher who wants to illustrate his lesson by putting reproductions in front of his pupils, the French teacher who needs costume models for his class to perform a play, the natural science teacher who wants to introduce his pupils to works where they can identify flowers, birds, mushrooms or acquire a few simple notions on how to use a microscope. I'm not talking about the art teacher looking for Etruscan, Renaissance or Arabic ornamental motifs to use as the basis for a decorative composition.’Footnote 6
Adalbert de Beaumont, Turkish ornaments, plate extracted from Recueil de dessins pour l'art et l'industrie, Tome 5 : Ornements turcs, Paris : Canson, 1883, in the Carved Wood section. Credit: Bibliothèque Forney / Ville de Paris.
René Valette, Study of Bassets, plate with usage marks, in the Animals section.
Credit: Bibliothèque Forney / Ville de Paris.
A dedicated room at the Hôtel de Sens
As early as 1929, the curator Gabriel Henriot (1920–1939) wanted a specific room for consulting prints in a more spacious building than the school in Titon street where the library had been created. When the library opened in the picturesque and historic Hôtel de Sens in 1961, the dedicated reading room on the top floor housed a collection of posters, a series of iconographic albums on means of transport and costume, as well as a selection of images from the 250,000 prints preserved. Ten years after opening, all the iconographic plates were transferred and considerably expanded; postcard and slide collections were also enlarged.
Helena Maguire, Cats, plate with usage marks, in the Animals section.
Credit: Bibliothèque Forney / Ville de Paris.
The picture collection contained book covers, illustrated plates, particularly from decorative art portfolios, prints, illustrations cut from sales catalogues, journals, magazines and the press, and photographs. Librarians cut out the images and glued them to cardboard or loose-leaf albums, making them easy to consult on site and borrow at home. In 1959, librarians created a set of albums to organise the filing and consultation of small illustrated items (packaging, labels, blotting paper, matchboxes, pharmaceutical leaflets, etc.). The open access picture collection also included a large number of postcards from all over the world, topographically divided and stored in library file cabinets.
As the collection grew and the range of illustrated media expanded, the classification became more accurate: animals, clay, art, wood, embroidery, bronze, costume, lace, drawing, illumination, ironwork, flowers, engraving, crafts, goldsmiths and metalwork, wallpaper, painting, photographs, stone, carpet art, tapestry and fabric. A “miscellaneous” category provided an illustrated overview of everyday life in history. This classification reflected the research and interests of readers, which the librarians followed closely. In 1971, readers could borrow up to 12 prints, 12 postcards or 60 slides for a period of two weeks.
Ten years after the relocation of the collections to the Hôtel de Sens, although the Bibliothèque Forney was increasingly visited, most visitors did not go up to the third floor. In 1971, a leaflet played on the spectacular dimension of the building and the curiosity of visitors to attract an audience: ‘Anyone who has had the curiosity and courage to climb the spiral staircase in the corner turret of the Hôtel de Sens up to the third floor will see their efforts rewarded by arriving in one of the most beautiful rooms in our house. (…) This iconographic collection is made up of original images and reproductions representing the decorative and fine arts and architecture in all their aspects. (…) It is able to provide a wide range of comprehensive technical and artistic information’Footnote 7.
Louise F. Pesel, Cross stitch, plate extracted from Historical designs for embroidery, London, BT Batsford, 1956, in the Embroidery section.
Credit: Bibliothèque Forney / Ville de Paris.
Art pictures at the Bibliothèque Forney. Credit: Joëlle Garcia.
Exhibitions were organised in the reading room in response to a significant donation or the library's current cultural events. In 1969, the librarians tried a participatory approach by hanging ‘problem documents’Footnote 8 - unidentified pictures - in the staircase, asking readers to caption them. In 1972, a letter to school art teachers suggested introductory visits. Since then, librarians have continued to promote the iconographic collections on site, organising exhibitions and visits for various audiences. The Library started a videodisc project in 1983 and have been digitizing corpuses of pictures since 2013. Through the digital library of the Parisian special librairiesFootnote 9, they editorialize resources, and allow for their widespread use via free downloads. They also promote the library collections through a dedicated blogFootnote 10 and social media posts.
Focus on the slide collection
After a difficult start due to its location on the top floor of the library, the collection of art pictures had great success from the 1970s to the 1990s thanks to the availability of loanable series of slides. Created at the end of the 1960s, the slide collection was designed to raise awareness of art techniques and crafts. It is aimed primarily at craftspeople and apprentices. Divided into two sections: arts and applied arts, the slides were stored in special carousel cabinets, next to light tables. Teachers used them to prepare their lessons, students to give their presentations, and lecturers to illustrate their talks. The loan of slides was subject to membership of the Société des Amis de la Bibliothèque Forney, which supported the development of the collection.
The core of the collection was made up of slides collected at conferences and photographic reports on exhibitions devoted to the crafts organised by the library. The librarians also commissioned original reports from photographers, for example, in 1983 on the Venice Carnival, or the art of casting in Africa. To avoid the constant handling of precious documents such as drawings, archives, textiles and wallpapers, (which could be seen only on site and by request), a photographer would reproduce a large selection as slides that could be borrowed.
With the development of slide publishing, librarians naturally turned to this medium to extend their iconographic offer. In the 1980s, publishers developed booklets of slides on painting, sculpture and architecture for exhibitions or educational purposes. Following the evolution of the audience of the library in the 1980s, librarians bought series on art history and artists' monographs rather than crafts. Donations from French and foreign institutions, such as the Goethe Institut, and gifts from private individuals had been added.
The Bibliothèque Forney was almost the only place for teachers, students, and lecturers to borrow slides in Paris. The collection of the Centre National de Documentation Pédagogique (CNDP), dedicated to teachers, was less extensive in arts. The number of slides used by readers doubled between 1985 and 1990. Art teachers, applied art teachers, their students, and lecturers became the main users of the slide collection, reflecting the evolution of the readership of the library. In the 1990s, even though the slide collection was becoming obsolete and was not updated as slide publishing was dying out in France, it was still often borrowed because slide projectors were still in use at home and in conference rooms.
Towards heritage recognition
Despite the success of the slide collection, which drew the public to the whole range of iconographic resources, the collection of free access pictures on paper began to age in the 1970s. In the 1980s, realising that the collection contained a large number of plates dating from before 1950s, librarians tried to update it regularly, with more and more illustrations cut out from magazines. Libraries in Paris, such as the Bibliothèque Municipale d'Art Industriel in the 18th Parisian district and the Bibliothèque Communale in the 14th Parisian district, when updating their collections, donated their iconographic plates to the Bibliothèque Forney. In the 1990s, the collection had become a century old, and the heritage value of some of these pictures became clear. Under the direction of the curator Anne-Claude Lelieur (1983–2004), the newly created Iconography Department started storing rare and precious items in stacks accessible on request to protect them from mishandling and theft. Facing more and more disappearances, the decision was made in November 2000 to stop lending out iconographic collections. When renovation was carried out in 2002, part of the third floor reading room was dedicated to rare and precious collections, and the space given to the open access picture collection was reduced. Albums and thematic series were withdrawn from the shelves, and some were donated to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs to complete the Maciet albums. The curator Frédéric Casiot (2004–2015) wrote several reference articles on illustrated ephemera from the collection. In 2013, the obsolescence of part of the paper plates led to a reorientation towards the decorative arts, costume, graphics and motifs. The plates from decorative portfolios and reference works in the decorative arts were organized under the title of the works concerned, and the collections of pictures corresponding to the most frequently consulted topics were stored in drawers: fabrics, alphabets, ornamental plates, stained glass, architecture, furniture, etc. Faced with the obsolescence of the slides, and another large renovation of the building, the curator Lucile Trunel (2015-) donated original and published series of slides to the Audiovisual Department of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, which is responsible for the legal deposit of these documents, to ensure their long-term preservation.
Conclusion
For over a century, the Bibliothèque Forney offered its readers original art images as a model for on-site or home studying. This service of loaning pictures was expanded and adapted according to the evolution of mediums, as well as changes in the public's needs and tastes, while always retaining its educational value. Today the open access picture collection offers an on-site repertoire of motifs for everyone and every purpose. Letting readers rummage through drawers, touch heritage pictures without fearing the wrath of the librarian, and connect with the materiality of the medium still encourages amazement and interest. Browsing a limited but varied selection of pictures organized by carefully selected topics encourages creativity and serendipity. The history of this art picture collection not only illustrates the evolution of still images but shows also how pictures become part of the heritage of art libraries. This hundred and fifty year-old collection of art and crafts images still has a lot to say to today's readers.
