La femme fatale (1896) by Georges de Feure. by Studio POPPY

In 1886 De Feure was one of eleven students admitted to the State Academy of Art in Amsterdam, but he soon went to Paris because he felt that formal academic training had nothing to offer him. With his highly independent character, De Feure never again took part in formal artistic studies, and chose his own independent course. He started out as an illustrator for various magazines including le Courrier Français, Le Théâtre, Le Figaro Illustré and Les Modes and designed posters for Salon des Cent, Loie Fuller and Thermes Liégeois, among others, and became one of Siegfried Bing's most important designers for his salon L 'Art Nouveau. He showed his work at the Paris World's Fair in 1900 in the pavilion of l'Art Nouveau Bing.

He designed, among other things, furniture, glassware, buttons for walking sticks and lamps. His paintings were exhibited at the Salon de la Rose-Croix of 1893 and 1894, and at the Munich Secession in 1896. De Feure made his best works in the Art Nouveau style. These usually feature stylish young women in graceful poses and are highlighted in shades of brown, green, and pink. De Feure was nicknamed the poet of the poster for this.

In August 1901, De Feure was made a Knight of the French Legion of Honor for his contribution to the decorative arts. In 1908 he designed furniture for Maison Krieger in Paris. In 1910, De Feure collaborated with Armand Deperdussin to design aircraft and patented some of his designs. In 1913, De Feure wrote two manuscripts for a ballet, the music of which was to be provided by Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. During the First World War, De Feure mainly lived in England and designed sets and costumes and sketches for various revues. In 1923, De Feure founded Madeleine Vionnet's fashion house on Avenue Montaigne in Paris and became artistic director of the Schwarz-Haumont metalwork firm, for which he designed series of balustrades for balconies. He died in need and anonymity on November 26, 1943 in Paris, aged 75.