"Ceramique Orientale, Pl. 8" Antique 1920's Hand-Colored Pochoir Plate

POCHOIR: Art of the Stencil

Pochoir is the French word for stencil.  In the 1920’s and 30’s Art Deco era, the color application process of the stencil was rejuvenated by the French, bringing color illustration processes for books and prints to new heights.  This interest in exploring the stencil process came in reaction to the proliferation of machine printing and the poor quality of color reproductions in publishing.  With pochoir printing, the hand application of layers of pigment created dazzling effects that the camera or printing press could never replicate.  

POCHOIR: Technique

Often, but not always, an outline of the image was printed as a black and white lithograph and served as a base layer.  To apply the color, separate stencils were cut, sometimes in thin sheets of copper, zinc, or aluminum, for every component.  Each successive color layer, using watercolor or gouache, was applied to the stencil with a brush called a pompon.  Pigment on the brush could not be thick or runny, as paint could easily slide underneath the stencil and change the shape of the image. Therefore, it was necessary to really blot the pigment on the brush before applying it to the stencil and in the case of watercolor images, this was even more critical. Skilled printers could achieve incredibly subtle details using gradation and stippling, spattering or even simply drawing additional details with a small brush on the final layer.  Sometimes as many as 100 stencils were used to recreate a single image, and the resulting print was surprisingly rich and detailed.