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RENÉ GRUAU (RENATO DE ZAVAGLI, 1910-2004)
186 • BLIZZARD. Circa 1960.
46
1
/
2
x30
1
/
4
inches, 118x77 cm. Courbet, Paris.
Condition A-: restoration along horizontal folds.
Gruau was the most renowned and celebrated fashion illustrator in France after the war. His sparse
compositions of languid, sophisticated models, delineated via bold lines and bright colors, ushered in a
“New Look” in the late 1940s. His images are imbued with suggestion, even seduction, but his figures
are always graceful, elegant and beautiful. The world of haute couture embraced him; “with lines as
lean as his elongated models, a gash of bright lips or a wash of color, René Gruau summed up an era
The elegant and aristocratic graphic artist . . . captured with his pen and brush the spirit of haute cou-
ture and the glory days of Parisian high fashion” (New York Times, April 13, 2004).
[700/1,000]
RENÉ GRUAU (RENATO DE ZAVAGLI, 1910-2004)
187 • DIOR / EAU SAUVAGE. Circa 1980.
67
3
/
4
x46 inches, 172x117 cm. R.C.S. Bobigny.
Condition B+: restored losses in image, affecting text at bottom; repaired tears and abrasions in image.
Gruau began working for Christian Dior in 1947 when both he and the designer were not well
known, and they formed a friendship and working relationship that lasted for decades.
[500/750]