René Gruau
René Gruau | |
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Born | Renato Zavagli Ricciardelli delle Caminate Rome, Italy |
Resting place | Monumental Cemetery of Rimini |
Known for | Fashion illustration |
Notable work |
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Movement | Modern fashion |
Count Renato Zavagli Ricciardelli delle Caminate,
Personal life
Born Renato Zavagli Ricciardelli delle Caminate in
Career
Gruau's artistic talent in fashion illustration merited him publication at the age of 14 and by the time he reached 18, he was published internationally, in the US, Italy, and France. In his lifetime, Gruau worked for numerous magazines including Marie-Claire, Femina,
Gruau, whose posters often echoed both classical Japanese drawings and Toulouse-Lautrec's sketches of fin de siècle Paris night life, was perhaps best known for creating the marketing images for Miss Dior perfume and for Rouge Baiser lipstick. According to Alan Riding of the New York Times, "everything he did, he evoked the glamour and style of the world of high fashion".[4] Because the technical age of the 20th century had yet to emerge, Gruau's pictures were the advertisements of the time and gave marketing and presentation of clothing a new brilliant flair.
Gruau's first position as artistic director for advertising was in 1947 with Christian Dior. The two together formed the "New Look" of the time, partially a result of Dior's designs, and partially a result of Gruau's combined interpretation and upgrading of old-style graphic illustration.[7] Gruau formed a friendship with Dior that contributed to their successful collaboration and further enlargement of fashion advertisement, which a primary reason he is mostly remembered for his work with Dior.
Gruau moved to the United States in 1948 to work for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.[7] He remained with the magazine for two years, and then went to work as sole illustrator for Flair. There were exhibitions of Gruau's work at the Paris Musée du Costume in 1989 and Musée de la Publicité in 1999. Gruau's birthplace, Rimini, holds a permanent collection in its city museum.[7] Today Gruau's works are in the permanent collections of many art institutions, including the Louvre in Paris.[3]
Death
Gruau died on 31 March 2004.[1] His ashes rest in the Monumental Cemetery of Rimini, where his funerary monument consists of a mosaic of a stylised woman's face on white marble floor circle, with a bronze stele emerging vertically from the marble,[8][9] containing Gruau's signature and surmounted by an asterisk. The monument was designed by architect Pier Luigi Foschi and artist Vittorio d'Augusta,[9] and resides by the cemetery's entrance, in symmetry with the funerary monument of Federico Fellini.[9][10] Gruau's ashes and those of his son were inaugurated behind the monument on 31 March 2009,[9][11] having previously been buried at a different location in the cemetery.[11][12]
Impact on fashion
During Gruau's lifelong career he collaborated with fashion houses such as Givenchy, Balenciaga, Lanvin, Schiaparelli, and Dior in the fashion area of haute couture.
Influences
Rene Gruau’s style combines an influence of Japanese woodblock prints and the simplified forms of Toulouse Lautrec with a bright and lively color palette. The combination of these elements lends his works an unmistakable feeling of joie de vivre and elegance. While fashion is often the subject of Gruau’s works, it is the female form that most grabs the viewer’s attention. ”Gruau’s women are not gamines and never pinups,” Gilles de Bure wrote in ”Gruau,” a biography published in 1989. ”They stroll along the Avenue Montaigne, the paths of the Bagatelle, the Croisette in Cannes. They float, they appear, they disappear as if they had neither body nor flesh.”[14]
References
- ^ a b c "René Gruau". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
- ^ "About – René Gruau official website".
- ^ a b c "renegruau.com". Retrieved 22 October 2009.
- ^ New York Times. Retrieved 22 October 2009.
- ^ a b c "The Hand of Fashion". Vanity Fair. December 2004. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
- ^ "Rene Gruau: Bridging Classic Poster Design & Modern Advertising". The Ross Art Group. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
- ^ a b c Horewell, Veronica (14 April 2004). "René Gruau: Capturing the look of Parisian chic". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 October 2009.
- ^ "Cimitero Monumentale e Civico di Rimini: dove la Commemorazione dei defunti svela un museo a cielo aperto" [Monumental and Civic Cemetery of Rimini: where the Commemoration of the dead reveals an open-air museum]. Alta Rimini (in Italian). 1 November 2023. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Le ceneri di Renè Gruau traslate nel cimitero monumentale di Rimini" [The ashes of Renè Gruau moved to the monumental cemetery of Rimini]. Il Resto del Carlino (in Italian). 30 March 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ Brullo, Davide (21 March 2017). "L'ingrato destino di Gruau a Rimini: ancora senza risposta il giallo delle 35 opere sparite nel nulla" [The ungrateful fate of Gruau in Rimini: The mystery of the 35 works that disappeared into thin air is still unanswered]. Riminiduepuntozero (in Italian). Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ a b "Rimini omaggia René Gruau, il grande riminese nel centenario della nascita" [Rimini pays homage to René Gruau, the great Riminese, on the centenary of his birth]. Comune di Rimini (in Italian). 25 March 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ "Il grande René Gruau torna per sempre nella sua Rimini" [The great René Gruau returns to his Rimini forever]. Comune di Rimini (in Italian). 27 April 2004. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ a b "Les grands noms de l'affiche". MadParis.fr. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
- ^ "Rene Gruau: Bridging Classic Poster Design & Modern Advertising". The Ross Art Group. Retrieved 5 August 2022.