Henri Desfontaines

Henri Jules Ferdinand Bellery-Desfontaines, known as Henri Bellery-Desfontaines, born in Paris on March 20, 1867 and died on October 7, 1909 in Les Petites Dalles, was a French multidisciplinary artist, painter, illustrator, engraver, lithographer, poster artist, type designer, architect and decorator of the Art Nouveau period.

Biography

Born in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, Henri was the son of Octave Ferdinand Bellery-Desfontaines (1821-1892), an employee at the Caisse d'épargne1, and Julie Pauline Hautefeuille (1828-1889).

A one-eyed artist, Bellery-Desfontaines was admitted in 1890 to the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris in the studios of Jean-Paul Laurens and Luc-Olivier Merson, graduating in 18953. Between 1890 and 1900, he took part in decorating the on-call room for interns at the Hôpital de la Charité. In 1891, he attended William Bouguereau's classes at the Académie Julian, after assisting decorator Pierre-Victor Galland between 1886 and 1890, with whom he learned ornamental techniques.

He designed banknote models for the banks of the French Colonial Empire - including the Banque de l'Indochine, the Banque d'État du Maroc - in a style that anticipated the most modern designs, those of the years 1925-356. He is the author of the Bellery-Desfontaines large and elongated typefaces published in 1911 by Fonderie G. Peignot & Fils. Peignot & Fils.