Color etching and aquatint on wove paper
France, 1923
Louis Icart (1880-1950) – French printmaker
Signed and dated in pencil lower margin ‘Louis Icart 23’
Published by Les Gravures Modernes, Paris, with ink stamps upper margin
Matted
Image dimensions: 16 ½ x 13 ¼ in. (41.9 x 33.7 cm.)
Overall dimensions: 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm.)
Very good condition

Louis Icart is best known for his depictions of women provocatively dressed in the popular styles of the time. His oval etching and aquatint ‘Best Friends’ depicts a smiling, curly haired woman wearing strings of pearls and a beautiful gown seated with her loyal hound. Her low-cut, silk dress reveals an exposed breast.

Executed in 1923, this color etching and aquatint on wove paper is signed and dated. Published by Les Gravures Moderns, Paris, with their ink stamps, the work measures 16 ½ x 13 ¼ inches. Trimmed to fit oval matting, otherwise good condition.

Louis Icart (French, 1880-1950)

Louis Icart was born in Toulouse, France that was the home of many writers and artists, including Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Icart first became famous for his fashion sketches, and at the beginning of his career he was hired by the major design studios. It was a period of transition for fashion: from the fussiness of the late 19th century it was transformed into the simplicity of the early 20th century. Later in 1914, Icart participated in World War I, and even these times he continued to create by sketching on every available surface. When the War was over he returned back home to make prints from drawing he created, and today these prints are very rare and fetch high prices at auction. By the late 1920s, working for both publications and major fashion and design studios, Icart was very successful, he had become the symbol of the epoch. In spite of he was working in his own style, he was also influenced by the 18th century French masters such as Jean Antoine Watteau, François Boucher and Jean Honoré Fragonard.