Au bon marché. 7 interior designs.

Watercolour and pencil, on Bristol Paper, 17,6 x 22,7 cm to 31,5 x 48 cm, 1 with stamp "Propriété de la mais[on] / dessin à retourn[er]", 2 with stamp "Au Bon Marché / Vaxelaire Claes & Cie / Bruxelles", 1 monogrammed "TG".

7 watercolour projects of interior designs. Au Bon Marché was founded in 1845 in Brussels by the Thiéry family. In 1866 it was acquired by the ambitious François Barthélemy Vaxelaire (1840-1920) who married Jeanne Josephe Claes (1840-1896), the first saleswoman and cashier in the business. The shop was renamed "Au Bon Marché Vaxelaire-Claes" (cfr. stamp) and the couple came up with a concept that had not existed until then: a shop with clearly posted prices and displayed goods, where people were not obliged to buy anything and where they did not have to negotiate about prices. It is unclear wether these designs were intended for the warehouse or rather for a personal project of the couple.