The Giants of 20th Century -- Alfredo Bouret and Andy Warhol

Alfredo Bouret was born in Mexico but lives in Sydney now. When Alfredo Bouret was young he drew for a magazine named La Familia. He moved to Paris in 1948 and started sketching the designs of Dior, Chanel, Givenchy, Balenciaga and Bally. These illustrations are used in the magazine Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar and brought Alfredo Bouret worldwide recognition.

Here is a video of Alfredo Bouret produced by Fashion Group International of Sydney Inc in 2005, and this is the link of this retrospective by Alfredo Bouret himself which introduced his experiences as an illustrator and fashion designer in the past. The link is -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shNFFy9Gdl0

Andy Warhol’s full name is Andy Warhola but he dropped the last letter in his name soon. This American boy became a commercial artist after he graduated from Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh and started drawing for Glamour magazine. Till 1960s, Andy concentrated on being a Pop artist and drew for Esquire and Bazaar which made him popular at that time. Because of the time limit, Andy created a special way to draw his “looked printed” images to get the need of speed – The blotted line technique (Downton, 2010). Andy influenced many illustrators in the USA and he became a “business artist” in the end.

The Giants of 20th Century -- special style -- Antonio Lopez and Caroline Smith

Antonio Lopes and Caroline Smith are the illustrators would be introduced today. The reason of putting them together is that their illustrations are very vivid and colorful. Especially the childlike drawings of Caroline Smith are full of interesting, using cute figures and bright colors, such as the collection for The Queen magazine in 1965 and the collection for Destiny in 1970. She also drew advertisement for high fashion brand like C&A.

Antonio Lopes was the ultimate fashion illustrator to many people in the 1960s, because he changed the ideal of beauty at that time, “neither exclusively white nor Western”, and used the girls who counted and mattered (Downton, 2010). This American boy showed his talent at the age of two. His mother was a dressmaker, so Antonio drew illustrations of his mother at that age.

Antonio worked for Fashion Institute of Technology in the USA in the 1960s and met Juan Ramos. They worked together and Paul Caranicas said that they made a unique creative process in their teamwork. When he was 19, he left FIT for the Women’s Wear Daily, and then he left WWD and moved to the New York Time in 1963. In the following years, Antonio drew for other magazines like Harper’s Bazaar, VOGUE, Elle, and Vanity. The best part of his illustration is that he didn’t follow the old style in the past but channeled the mood of the times, such as pop culture, and created his own style in the fashion illustration.

Next is the timeline of these two illustrators. 

The Giants of 20th Century – Similar names – René Bouét-Willaumez, René Bouché and René Gruau

The illustrators will be introduced today have the same first name René and they are all extremely influential in fashion illustrators.

René Bouét-Willaumez appeared in Vogue during 1930s. He has a similar style with Eric but his lines are sharper and colors are more astringent than Eric. Both of them worked for Vogue and used brush as the tool of illustrating but René Bouét-Willaumez showed more freedom and Eric showed softer feelings in their drawings.

René Bouché was one of the old-school illustrators in the 20^th century. He was a versatile wit in edit, reportage and advertising, but illustrating for Vogue magazine is his most influential work. Bouché started to illustrate in 1938 for Vogue in France, and then turned to the USA after the war. He has been drawing for Vogue until he died in 1963. The style of Bouché was influenced by Eric who was also a famous illustrator worked for Vogue, but the eyes of Bouché’s modles are more sharper and the lines of his illustration are more trenchant.

René Gruau has an elegant style in his illustrations and he liked to use framing device which always showed a dramatic effect. He drew for magazine Vogue, Woman’s Journal, L’Officiel de la couture et de la mode, Adam, International Textiles and many other magazines, and drew advertisement for Dior, Jaeger and other brands.

The last part of this blog is showing the timeline of these Renés.

The Giants of 20th Century – Similar names – Eric, Erté, Eric Fraser, and Eric Stemp

Eric is a very influential fashion illustrator in the 1930s. His full name is Carl Erickson but the pen name Eric was more popular because it was signed on his illustrations. His drawings are inspired from life and full of expressionistic style.

Erté is a Russian-born French who is famous both in fashion design and fashion illustration. He became a fashion designer in 1911 in Paris and was employed by Paul Poiret at that time. Erté start to draw illustrations for Harper’s Bazaar from 1915 to 1938 and the magazine use his illustrations as cover frequently. His style is very explicit which is called essentially decorative style by Cally Blackman.

Eric Fraser is a British fashion illustrator and it is hard to find his works. There is only one illustration included in this timeline summary which is an advertisement for journal Weldon’s in 1926.

Eric Stemp could be called a contemporary illustrator so he is not in the same period with the first three illustrators. Eric Stemp has his precise college style and his illustrations became the feature of many magazines after the war. Simpson’s Piccadilly employed him as advertising illustrator since 1964. And Eric Stemp was also a lector at Central Saint Martins teaching students about fashion illustration.

Next is the timeline of these three Erics and one Erté.

The Giants of 20th Century – Etienne Drian, Helen Dryden and Bentio

In the same era with those illustrators who were introduced several days ago, Etienne Drian, Helen Dryden and Bentio are also very famous. Each of them had strong painting style and influenced the next generation of fashion illustrators.

The first illustrator will be introduced is a French illustrator named Etienne Drian, his drawings are very elegant, including his models and brushwork, which are inspired from life. Rene Gruau who will be mentioned tomorrow said that Etienne Drian is the greatest to him(Downtown, 2010).

Helen Dryden is a woman illustrator of America, and she drew a large number of illustrations for American Vogue since 1910 to 1930. The models in her drawings are generally thin and tall or having a long neck and delicate fingers. And the smooth and slender lines made her illustrations romantic and gentler.

The last illustrator is Eduardo Garcia Bentio short for Benito who was born in Spain. He was influenced by Modigliani and he drew for Vogue for a long time. His works usually use simple and delicate lines, and most of his illustrations could be recognized immediately because of his unique style.

Here is the timeline of these three illustrators:

Fig. 8-1 the timeline of Etienne Drian, Helen Dryden, and Benito

The Giants of 20th Century – Similar names – Andre-Edouard Marty (A.E. Marty) vs. Charles Martin and J.C. Leyendecker vs. J.C. Haramboure

We have two groups of similar illustrators today. Actually, the style of each group is not very similar, so the only reason I put them together is that these two illustrators have the same Initials of first name and middle name. These two pair of names confounded me for a long time and I hope that the picture below will help you to distinguish them.

At first, let us learn something about A.E. Marty and Charles Martin. Andre-Edouard Marty is the full name of A.E. Marty, and he graduated from the Ecole des Beaux Art where Paul Iribe, Georges Lepape, and George Barbier were trained. His illustrations are very romantic and elegiac which is different from Charles Martin. Martin’s style changed a lot as time went on and he was also trained at the Ecole des Beaux Art but then went to the Academie Julian in paris.

Next is the introduction of J.C. Leyendecker and J.C. Haramboure. Leyendecker is German who immigrated to the USA at the end of 19^th century and Haramboure is French. Leyendecker is a really famous illustrator and the advertisement he drew are still used today. The other J.C. is not as famous as the J.C. Leyendecker, I can hardly find Haramboure’s birth date. But he is also a wonderful illustrator in the past.

At last, let’s look at the timeline of these four illustrators. Their names are colored in different tin-ct just like last blog about Georges and Pauls.

Fig. 7-1 the timeline of Marty vs. Martin & J.C. Leyendecker vs. J.C. Haramboure

The Giants of 20th Century – Those Georges and Pauls

Maybe because I’m not good at remembering names, I always feel confused about the names that looked similar while reading the books, and it happened again when I start learning Fashion illustration. There are several illustrators named George and Paul, even their styles of illustrations are quite similar. I will try to separate their works followed timeline.

Firstly, I will show you the protagonists of these George and Paul. Most of them are the illustrators, but one of them is a fashion designer who employed two illustrators we will mention later. We have George Barbier, Georges Lepape, George Wolfe Plank, Paul Poiret, and Paul Iribe here. Let's start from that fashion designer.

This man named Paul Poiret is a very famous fashion designer in the early 20^th century. The reason we have to mention him is that he asked Paul Iribe and Georges Lepape to draw the collections of his design and these illustrations became the representative works of Paul Iribe and Georges Lepape. Let’s remember his face and the color we use here because each color stands for one person.

Fig. 6-1  Paul Poiret and his cooperation with Paul Iribe and Gorges Lepape

 

Next, I will show you a picture with different colors on different names to help you to distinguish the illustrators and their styles.

Fig. 6-2 the introduction of Georges and Pauls

Finally, we will look at the last picture which shows a timeline of these Georges and Pauls involving the dates of their birth and death and the illustration events in their lifetime. Check the illustrators name with color if you cannot remember.

Fig. 6-3 the timeline of these Georges and Pauls

The Rise of the Fashion Illustration— From the 18th Century to the 19th Century (1700-1900) – Part 2

In retrospect, we can find that the history of fashion and fashion illustration both related to the politics and economics of the society. The history of fashion is a part of world history, and it is influenced by the world history, but sometimes it affect the world history; for instance, a policy of encouraging people to develop fashion industry was published by the ruling power of a country, so many artists and designers kept growing and made a brilliant history of fashion, which lead a rapidly development of this country's economic.

There are several examples of how the government or the social events influenced the fashion events and how the turning points of fashion affect the society in the 18^th century to 19^th century:

In France, Louis XIV supported the fashion industry and made it created economic importance, and the newspaper Le Mecure Galant (1672) supported by him became a start of widespread dissemination of fashion.

However, the French Revolution happened in 1789 let many dressmakers and tailors escape from France to England and give Germany a chance to develop its publishing industry. That is why England established many famous magazines in the late 18^th century and the early 19^th century and some of them were named in French; and German publishers spread fashion news out of Europe and became the main source of it for a short time.

Fig. 5-1 the sketch map about how the French Revolution influence the situation of Europe fashion publishing

Until the 1790s, Napoleon feared a decline in the prosperity of France, so he encouraged the regeneration of fashion industry, especially the textile. By the 1850s, Paris becomes the centre of fashion once again up to now.

The similar development also happened in England.

Thanks to the Industrial Revolution, the technique and society underwent a huge change; such as the printing techniques developed rapidly which made the publication of newspapers and periodicals easier and easier and the frequency of updates of fashion magazines more and more quickly, and the living conditions of the people developed a lot which means some general publics could afford fashion magazines compared with before. At 1830, “Godey’s Lady’s Book” became the first magazine introduced fashion to the general public.

The Rise of the Fashion Illustration— From the 18th Century to the 19th Century (1700-1900) -- Part 1

The fashion illustrations were drawn as fashion plates at the beginning,  and the fashion plates are published through newspapers and magazines in the old days, so the development of newspapers and magazines at that time is the barometer of fashion illustrations. From the 18^th century onward newspapers and magazines becoming the most popular medium to flow through the fashion styles especially from France and Italy. 

In the first part, I will illustrate the most famous publishing in four countries – the France, the Germany,  the England, and the America.

In France, magazines the Monument du costume (1775), Galeries des modes (1777), and the Cabinet des modes (1785) were published as the model of fashion periodicals and many of them were translated and published in other countries. Because of the French Revolution, the fashion and publishing industry declined bit by bit until Napoleon encouraged the regeneration of fashion industry in the mid-nineteenth-century which let Paris became the centre of fashion once again. At this time, Le Follet (1829), La Mode Illustree (1860), and Le journal des demoiselles (1883) became the greatest samples of French magazines.­

  Fig. 3-1 the timeline of French magazines

In the Germany, during the period of French Revolution, the centre of publishing was passed on to Germany. The Journal der Luxus und der Moden (1786) is the most famous example of fashion magazines there.

In the England, The Lady’s Magazine (1795) supported by George III is a pioneer of fashion periodical in Britain; Gallery of Fashion (1794) published by Heideloff, La Belle Assemblee (1806), Repository of the Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufacturing, Fashion and Politics (1809) published by Ackermann are important journals at that time. And Godey’s Lady’s Book (1830) is the first magazine introduces fashion to general public instead of focus on the nobles.

In the USA, the VOGUE (1893), a hugely influential magazine till nowadays, came into being at that time. This magazine contains many excellent fashion illustrations until the 1960s photography replaced illustration step by step.

 Fig. 3-2 the timeline of English & German magazines

 

Just like the fashion magazines we are reading today, the latest popular garments are quite the same in a period, but every publisher hopes that they can have their own style of showing dresses in trend. The styles of the garments might be similar, but the spirits and the styles of paintings are different through the creation of illustrators. These things could be found in details; such as the presenting techniques of lines, the body scale, and the background around the models. 

Next part I will show you the fashion illustrations of each magazine specifically. These fashion plates collected below are ordered as the same sequence of the magazines’ establishment. 
 

Fig. 4-1 fashion plates in French magazine Galeries des modes

Fig. 4-2 fashion plates in French magazine Cabinet des modes

Fig. 4-3 fashion plates in French magazine Le Follet

Fig. 4-4 fashion plates in German magazine Journal der luxus und der Moden

Fig. 4-5 fashion plates in English magazine Gallery of Fashion

Fig. 4-6 fashion plates in English magazine The Lady’s Magazine

Fig. 4-7 fashion plates in English magazine La Belle Assemblee

The Beginning of Fashion illustration—from the 16th Century to the 17th Century (1500 - 1700)

The Beginning of Fashion illustration—from the 16^th Century to the 17^th Century (1500 - 1700)

The fashion illustration was originated in Europe and its history begins in the sixteenth century. Before we introduced the representative works of this period we have to mention a German named Johannes Gutenberg who introduced the printing press into Europe during the 14^th century. This is a huge event of the modern period because this technique led to a revolution of European bookmaking which helped the fashion illustrations could be seen by more and more people.

Fig.1-1 Johannes Gutenberg

Before the word Fashion Illustration was created, the style of fashion was known by the image on the engravings and utensil, oil paintings, or the etchings and woodcuts about costumes.

In the 16^th century, the time which the experts recon that the history of fashion illustration begins, there are more than 200 collections of woodcuts of garments were published. The best-known book is the De gli habiti antichi et moderni di diverse parti del mondo(1590) published in Italy by Cesare Vecellio, which includes 420 woodcuts depicting garments of Europe, Africa, and Asia. And these illustrations of dress became the prototype for fashion illustration as we known today (Blackman, 2007).

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Fig.2-1 the woodcuts in Cesare Vecellio’s book

In the 17^th century, Wenceslaus Hollar’s master work Winter is a representative of fashion etchings. Wenceslaus is a Bohemian etcher who worked in London since 1640 and produced the drawings of dresses and texture of English fashion.

Fig.2-2 Wenceslaus Hollar and his master work -- Winter (1643)

From the 1670s, journals began to be published especially in France. Louis XIV supported a newspaper named Le Mecure Galant which was founded in France in 1672. This newspaper included articles about fashion and beautiful fashion illustrations. The picture below is the content of this newspaper.

Fig 2-3 the newspaper Le Mercure gallant (1672)

Introduction of this blog

Hello everyone, I'm a student of Fashion Promotion who is doing mini projects now. The topic of my research is about the Fashion Illustration and my friends said they are really interested in this part, the beautiful drawings and the story inside, and my tutor advised me to put my works on the internet, so I decided to start a blog about it. But these things I’m going to show you here are related to my projects, so I think I need to explain what I’m doing now before you think it is boring.

The first series of blog is about the history of fashion illustration. I will write 15 to 20 blog about the development of fashion illustration. The contents will be summarized from 6 books about illustrations and I will do some personal analysis. This part will include many wonderful illustrations drawn by famous illustrators in the old days and I believe they will be very interesting.

Before we start, I want to show you this timeline of the history of fashion illustration. I made it to help you to understand the content will be contained in the next few blog.

OK, here we go!