THE MASTERFUL LINE OF GRUAU

I'm continuing on my very un-chronological and no-logic-whatsoever series of featuring my favorite fashion illustrators. (Previously mentioned are Erté and Ohgushi.)

Today it's time for perhaps the greatest of them all; Renée Gruau!

I've always admired the 'less is more' when it comes to illustration (that is, if you know your way around the paper and pencil) and Gruau is a true master in the use of negative space, somewhat continuing the japonisme-inspired style of Touluse-Lautrec. Gruau was also a master with his use of color and patterns, but most of all, his trademark line - strong and simple but total perfection.

RenéeGruau (1909-2004) was a French-Italian artist and illustrator who worked mainly in Europe but also in New York. He did numerous high style magazine covers, ads and haute couture illustrations for such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Flair, Balenciaga, Givenchy, Dior... He also did posters for The Moulin Rouge and Lido for years. At some point he even did some fashion design himself.

Gruau worked with Dior from the fifties until the late eighties, even at times when fashion photography and digital art had already taken over. Images above from the sixtes.



Obviously an inspiration for the iPod ads?


Great work of pattern and space from the sixties.



I had a hard time picking out images for this post leaving a lot unshown here, so be a darling and go google up images by Gruau! Do it! Now!