La Leçon de Natation (The Swimming Lesson)

This hand-colored woodcut depicts a fashionable swimming instructor in an elaborate black wrap adorned with purple flowers, gesturing toward students in the water. The print satirizes modern bathing culture and the theatrical poses of haute couture, where even practical swimwear becomes an occasion for dramatic styling. The composition recalls the tradition of satirical fashion prints by Rowlandson and Gillray—mocking vanity through exaggerated gesture and costume detail. Yet this is primarily a luxury fashion illustration for an elite Parisian magazine, using gentle humor to market the season's beachwear. The simplified forms and bold black contours reflect the Art Deco aesthetic and the woodcut revival popular among early twentieth-century illustrators, a direct ancestor of the graphic language soon adopted by comic strips and comic books.