Red and black according to RENE GRUAU

LE ROUGE ET LE NOIR

selon 

RENE GRUAU

My dear friend Nan Mabon is very busy with brand new baby Faye, 
her first grandchild. 

Congratulations Sally and Dan! 

So we will let her savor the moments with her family
and make do without her fabulous Wednesday column, 
The London Bulletin. 

In it's place I have decided to share an artist I adore:

René Gruau was born in 1909 in Italy, of an italian aristocrat father and a French mother, Marie GRUAU, whose name he adopted. He started illustrating fashion for magazines in the 30's and for his friend Christian Dior in 1947. He moved to the United States in 1948 and started working for American magazines -Harper's Bazaar and Vogue among them. Back in France, he focused entirely on advertising illustrations for Rouge Baiser, le Lido, le Moulin Rouge etc.; From then on he worked exclusively for the Grands Couturiers and for fashion magazines like Elle and l'Officiel de la Mode. René Gruau died in 2004. His style is easily recognizable: bold strokes, pared down lines and strong blocks of brilliant colors. He used a lot of red and black, giving his illustration their iconic energy. An artist with a sure hand, a sense of placement and depth, a keen eye (often with un clin d'oeil- a playful wink-) and a talent for perfectly translating a mood. What an irreplaceable treasure. images renegruau au revoir.