Cours de mise-en-carte. École de tissage de Lyon, 1949-1951. Hardcover half cloth folio with string ties and mounted manuscript title plate, 13 x 10.5 inches. 18 pieces: 16 large mise-en-carte diagrams executed in gouache, with additional drawings and documentation, some stapled, including 4 numbered sketches on glassine and finalized designs submitted for qualification. Four samples of woven materials accompany advanced charts.

A vibrant and varied selection of decidedly modern-looking designs that contrast boldly with the beautiful florals and ornamental motifs more commonly seen in surviving drafts from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The numbered panels begin in October 1949 with very basic forms—circles, spirals, spheres. Later charts are dated from autumn 1950 and the latest is marked, “Epreuve de mise en carte, Brevet - professionnel 1951, Ecole de Tissage de Lyon.” The École de tissage de Lyon was founded in 1883 to provide training after the apprenticeship system collapsed and industrial production was surging. Initially, the École initially provided a daytime course for teens alongside evening classes for the factory workers. It then broadened its offerings to include industrial design, machine embroidery, and machine maintenance. It merged with l’École des Beaux-Arts de Lyon in 1927, then with a student population over 1,000. Its popularity waned along with the Lyon silk industry, which suffered greatly after WWII. It transitioned into a higher learning institution that combined management training, named École Supérieure des Industries Textiles de Lyon (ESITL), though the old name is used on these documents.