French designer and lithographer. He began his training in
Villefranche, where he studied painting, and in 1893 he moved to
Paris, entering the Ecole Normale d’Enseignement du Dessin. There he
became a pupil and disciple of Eugène-Samuel Grasset, the Professor
of Decorative Arts, and was also influenced by Luc Olivier Merson.
Berthon’s main output consisted of posters and decorative panels.
However, he also produced bookbindings and furniture designs, both
of which he exhibited at the Salon in 1895; designs for ceramics for
Villeroy & Boch in the late 1890s; and a few designs for the covers
of such magazines as L’Image (July 1897) and Poster (May 1899). His
work is in an Art Nouveau style, and he adopted that movement’s
plant and figural motifs, especially the motif of the femme fatale,
and also its long sinuous lines. These features can be seen in such
works as the poster Leçons de violon (1898). Berthon distinguished
himself in the production of large, coloured posters in the
relatively new medium of chromolithography, some of which were
printed under the direction of Jules Chéret by Chaix & Company.
Poster design
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