Count Renato Zavagli Ricciardelli delle Caminate, professionally known as René Gruau (4 February 1909 – 31 March 2004)
was a
fashion illustrator whose exaggerated portrayal of fashion design through painting has had a lasting effect on the fashion industry. Because of Gruau's inherent skills and creativity, he contributed to a change in the entire fashion industry through the new pictures that represented the already popular designs created by designers in the industry. The benefits, including economic stimulation and enhancement of advertising are still present in the industry today via a new way of fashion illustration, fashion photography. Gruau became one of the best known and favorite artists of the
haute couture
(; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design. The term ''haute couture'' generally refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the ...
world during the 1940s and 50s working with ''Femina'', ''
Marie Claire
''Marie Claire'' (stylized in all lowercase; ) is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages.
The feature editions focus on women aro ...
'', ''
L'Officiel
''L'Officiel'' (; stylised in all caps), full name ''L'Officiel de la couture et de la mode de Paris'' ("The Official ublicationof Paris Couture and Fashion"), is a French bimonthly fashion magazine. It has been published in Paris since 1921 a ...
'', ''
L'Album Du Figaro'' and an assortment of "high-style" magazines.
Gruau's artwork is recognized and commended internationally in some of Paris and Italy's most prestigious art museums including the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
in Paris and the Blank in Italy. In addition to his international fame and recognition, "Gruau's artwork is known for its timeless and enduring style".
Personal life
Born Renato Zavagli Ricciardelli delle Caminate in
Rimini, Italy, on 4 February 1909, Gruau was the son of an Italian count but instead of following in his father's footsteps and accepting the job of royal military commander, his passion and inclination for arts led him to a love and pursuance of fine arts.
When René's mother, Maria Gruau, a French aristocrat, and his father separated when he was three, he moved to Paris with her. Gruau then took his mother's last name, which is the name he is known by, opposed to his father's last name and noble connection. At fourteen, Gruau began to support his mother and himself by selling drawings to the Milanese fashion journal ''Lidel''.
He was inspired to pursue fashion illustration by his close relationship with his elegant mother. He demonstrated talent for drawing throughout much of his early life and worked as an illustrator for fashion magazines such as ''Femina'', ''Marie Claire'', and ''
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ' ...
'' in Paris in his teens and early 20s.
Gruau found it difficult to find work during World War II and ultimately found little work for small or unestablished designers such as
Christian Dior
Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer and founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Dior, Christian Dior SE. His fashion house is known all around the world, having gained promi ...
before he became popular during this time. He worked as he could and contributed to the concealment of Jewish refugees.
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'', ''
Elle
Elle may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication
** Elle Style Awards
* Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition
* Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film
* ''Elle: ...
'', ''
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ' ...
'', ''
Harper's Bazaar
''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...
'', ''
Flair
Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) is a magnetic resonance imaging sequence with an inversion recovery set to null fluids. For example, it can be used in brain imaging to suppress cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) effects on the image, so as to ...
'', ''L'Officiel'', ''
Madame Figaro
''Madame Figaro'' () is a French magazine supplement to the Saturday edition of the daily newspaper , focusing on and catering to women.
History and profile
The first edition was published in 1980. ''Madame Figaro'' was spearheaded by Robert H ...
'', and ''
L'Officiel de la Couture''. Gruau was hired by major designers like
Pierre Balmain
Pierre Alexandre Claudius Balmain (; 18 May 1914 – 29 June 1982) was a French fashion designer and founder of leading post-war fashion house Balmain (fashion house), Balmain. Known for sophistication and elegance, he described the art of dre ...
, Christian Dior,
Jacques Fath
Jacques Fath (6 September 1912 in Maisons-Laffitte, France – 13 November 1954 in Paris, France) was a French fashion designer who was considered one of the three dominant influences on immediate postwar haute couture, the others being Christia ...
,
Balenciaga
Balenciaga SA ( , , ) is a Spanish Basque luxury fashion house currently headquartered in Paris. It designs, manufactures and markets ready-to-wear footwear, handbags, and accessories, and licenses its name and branding to the American cosmeti ...
,
Elsa Schiaparelli
Elsa Schiaparelli ( , , ; 10 September 1890 – 13 November 1973) was an Italian fashion designer from an Italian nobility, aristocratic background. She created the Schiaparelli (fashion house), house of Schiaparelli in Paris in 1927, which she ...
,
Rochas
Rochas is a fashion, beauty, and perfume house founded in 1925 by French designer Marcel Rochas, the first designer of 2/3-length coats and skirts with pockets and one of the two designers, along with Elsa Schiaparelli, who launched the fashion f ...
,
Lanvin,
Elizabeth Arden
Elizabeth Arden (December 31, 1881 – October 18, 1966), also known as Elizabeth N. Graham, was a Canadian-American businesswoman who founded what is now Elizabeth Arden, Inc., and built a cosmetics empire in the United States.
Backg ...
, and
Hubert de Givenchy
Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy (; 20 February 1927 – 10 March 2018) was a French fashion designer who founded the luxury fashion and perfume house of Givenchy in 1952. He is famous for having designed much of the personal and professi ...
. Gruau gave life to their haute couture clothing and expanded their popularity with his captivating illustrations.
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".
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, whose posters for
Le Lido
Le Lido is a musical theatre venue located on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, France. It opened in 1946 at 78 Avenue des Champs-Élysées and moved to its current location in 1977. Until its purchase by Accor in 2021, it was known for its exoti ...
cabaret include the 1972
revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatre, theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketch comedy, sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural pre ...
, ''Grand Jeu''.
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.
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''.
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.
Today Gruau's works are in the permanent collections of many art institutions, including the Louvre in Paris.
Death
Gruau died on 31 March 2004.
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
A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...
emerging vertically from the marble,
containing Gruau's signature and surmounted by an asterisk. The monument was designed by architect Pier Luigi Foschi and artist Vittorio d'Augusta,
and resides by the cemetery's entrance, in symmetry with the funerary monument of
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...
.
Gruau's ashes and those of his son were inaugurated behind the monument on 31 March 2009,
having previously been buried at a different location in the cemetery.
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.
His advertising campaigns for
Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge (, ; ) is a cabaret in Paris, on Boulevard de Clichy, at Place Blanche, the intersection of, and terminus of Rue Blanche.
In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Olympia (Par ...
and
Le Lido
Le Lido is a musical theatre venue located on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, France. It opened in 1946 at 78 Avenue des Champs-Élysées and moved to its current location in 1977. Until its purchase by Accor in 2021, it was known for its exoti ...
utilised an old-world aesthetic, celebrating the traditional poster-art graphics of
Toulouse-Lautrec
''Comte'' Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901), known as Toulouse-Lautrec (), was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist, and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful an ...
,
Bonnard and the pre-1900 Parisian artists.
He continued to work in advertising designing the hugely influential cinema poster for Fellini's ''
La Dolce Vita
''La Dolce Vita'' (; Italian for 'the sweet life' or 'the good life'Kezich, 203) is a 1960 satirical comedy-drama film directed by Federico Fellini and written by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, and Brunello Rondi. The film stars M ...
'' in 1959 and working on campaigns for names such as Dior, Air France, Martini, and Omega watches. He has been exhibited internationally at the Paris Musee du Costume and The Musee de la Publicite.
The 2011 Spring/Summer Haute Couture Collection of Christian Dior by John Galliano was heavily inspired by Gruau's works.
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.”
References
External links
*
*
Rene Gruau Signed and Numbered Prints at The Ross Art Group
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruau, Rene
1909 births
Fashion illustrators
2004 deaths
Italian illustrators
Italian untitled nobility
Dior people
Burials at the Monumental Cemetery of Rimini