Oil paintings on parchment

Tableaux. Gaston André (1884-1970). "Buzzard and Jay". Oil on parchment. This buzzard hunting a jay, in its naturalistic aspects, is of astonishing sophistication, typical of the Art Deco aesthetic. Firstly, due to the medium used: 12 panels of parchment, which is to say an animal skin that has been purified, stretched, scraped, dried, and thinned to serve as a support for writing, drawing, or painting. But also because of its apparent realism, which relies on clear lines, a simplification and geometrisation of forms, subtle shades of beige and blue, and the use of gilding.