Category Archives: Paintings

Without paintings we are nothing

George Barbier

Art Illustration, Paintings, Photographers

Art Deco illustrator.

For an index of articles on art illustrators, click here.

George Barbier (1882-1932) died young, just as the Great Depression started to roar. That’s somewhat appropriate as his delicate Art Deco illustrations are frequently about flappers and society people of the 1920s, the newly rich who saw no end to stock market gains. They had disappeared by the time of his death.

“Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau,” quoth the famous economist Irving Fisher in early October, 1929. Proving that you should never take investing advice from an economist. Black Thursday, October 24, saw the market drop by 11 percent, followed four days later by Black Monday, when it fell another 13 percent; and the next day, Black Tuesday, when it lost 12 percent more. Good market timing, Irving.

Sounds just like today when stocks are overvalued by 50% as the market continues in denial about 40 million unemployed – and largely unemployable – American workers. Today we are waiting for the pandemic to ‘magically disappear’ courtesy of the moron in the Oval Office. Nothing changes.

Here are some favorite Barbier images from the Roaring Twenties, ones no photographer could ever equal:




The Roaring Twenties and its denizens.


Exquisite use of line.


Before the days of sardine cans masquerading as transportation.


Simple charm and great sophistication. Hitchcock
appropriated the firework background in ‘To Catch a Thief‘.

Like Dufy and Gruau after him (see the previous two posts here) Barbier’s work was always in demand.

If you are interested in learning more about the gorgeous bias cut dresses frequently draped so elegantly on Barbier’s women, check out Madeleine Vionnet.

Raoul Dufy

Art Illustration, Paintings, Photographs

French fauve painter.

For an index of articles on art illustrators, click here.

The Fauves (‘wild beasts’) were a collection of early 20th century painters who emphasized color over form. While Derain and Matisse are the most well known members of the group my personal favorite is Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) for the sheer joy and abandon he brings to his many paintings. In that regard, Dufy (‘Do-fee’) was happy to cross the barrier into commercialism, and his images feature to this day on anything from chocolate box covers to tea towels. That in no way minimizes their significance to a century hungry for visual arts in a world of growing advertising and marketing, all of this before photography became mainstream and inexpensive. Today, a Dufy could not pay the bills in a world where literally everyone owns a camera. In his abundant output he was a predecessor to the supreme commercial artist of the century, René Gruau.

Here are some favorites from his large body of work:




The influence of cubism is writ large.


A wonderful realization of Montmartre and Sacre Coeur.


The Riviera was a favorite venue.


Vive La France!


René Gruau

Art Illustration, Paintings, Photography

Master of sparsity.

For an index of articles on art illustrators, click here.

There has been no greater illustrator than René Gruau (1909-2004), an Italian master best known for his long association with Christian Dior, back when ‘couture’ meant something and the working class knew its place. Gruau (‘Grew-oh’) was of Italian birth but Paris was his abode. There, at the age of 14, he was already making a living from his marvelous drawings. Every major fashion house retained him and while his images remain in our subconscious few know who this master artist was.

His relevance to photography is that once the barrow boys (working class lads with a Pentax like Bailey, Donovan and Duffy, their fathers barrow boys from the East End of London, whose perfectly virulent English they inherited) started snapping the demand for traditional drawings plummeted. Not that this bothered Gruau for he was in a class of one, remaining happily employed for the rest of his very long life. And the barrow boys never came close to Gruau’s class, greatly devoid in their make up.

There is so much of his work out there it’s hard to know where to begin, but the following images are Gruau at his very best.




Just a splash of red.


Alluring, eye catching, perfect.


A sparsity of line not known since Matisse.


His greatest partnership was with Christian Dior.


Utter genius.


Tom Haugomat

Art Illustration, Motorcycles, Paintings, Photographs

No clutter.

For an index of articles on art illustrators, click here.

While there is a myriad of filters available for most post-processing photo applications, the one which is missing is ‘de-clutter’. You know, something that takes out all the noise in most photographed images and renders a clean whole. It’s something that Henri Cartier-Bresson was so adept at accomplishing ‘in camera’. Few photographers since have learned that skill.

The advantage a graphics illustrator has over the photographer is that he can de-clutter to his heart’s content, image composition and content aggregation being one and the same. Such a one is Parisian illustrator Tom Haugomat, and while the image below has a special place in my soul, for I am a long time motorcycle rider, it’s just one of many that Haugomat has produced.




Wrenching on the machine.

You can see more of Haugomat’s work here.

Luminous Hockneys

Paintings

Britain’s finest contemporary artist.

One of the most memorable exhibitions I attended in recent years with my son was the Hockney show in San Francisco’s DeYoung Museum. The show highlighted the artist’s iPad and iPhone works, and they were a delight to see.



Hockney’s latest.

Now, by way of relief to the horrors the world is experiencing right now, this modern master had released a new series of spring paintings from his home in Normandy. Enjoy.