LOUIS ICART (1988-1950) HAND SIGNED, ORIGINAL ETCHING, DRYPOINT AND AQUATINT TITLED BLACK FAN WITH COA, 28.5IN x 34.5IN (72cm x 88cm)

Inventory #: 25-1057 - $1,750.00

Hand signed, original etching and aquatint with touches of hand coloring on thick wove paper, by celebrated French artist Louis Icart (1988-1950) titled Black Fan. It is hand signed in by Louis Icart in pencil in the lower right and was printed in 1931 by Les Graveurs Modernes, on behalf of L. Icart, Paris. Printed in the upper right edge is “Copyright 1931 by L.Icart Paris”.  There are two blind stamps on the lower left edge. The first in LI Paris, the stamp for Icart’s company, which is sometimes called the artist’s windmill stamp. The second is for the New York Graphic Society, who was the official distributor for Icart’s works in the United States. This piece was examined outside of the frame. There are many pictures, both in and out of the frame. Without frame, it measures 20.75 inches wide by 16 inches high. With frame it measures 28.5 inches x 34.5 inches, and it is double matted and framed under acrylic in an ornate wood and gold frame. This piece was acquired from a Metro Washington DC estate and it comes with a COA. FLAT RATE SHIPPING OF $150.00 WITH INSURANCE FOR THIS PIECE WITHIN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Flat rate shipping is billed separately after the invoice has been paid.

About The Artist: Louis Justin Laurent Icart was born in Toulouse in 1890 and died in Paris in 1950. He lived in New York City in the 1920s, where he became known for his Art-Deco color etchings of glamourous women. He was first son of Jean and Elisabeth Icart and was officially named Louis Justin Laurent Icart. The use of his initials L.I. would be sufficient in this household. Therefore, from the moment of his birth he was dubbed 'Helli'. The Icart family lived modestly in a small brick home on rue Traversière-de-la-balance, in the culturally rich Southern French city of Toulouse, which was the home of many prominent writers and artists, the most famous being Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Icart entered the l'Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Toulouse in order to continue his studies for a career in business, particularly banking (his father's profession). However, he soon discovered the play writings of Victor Hugo (1802-1885), which were to change the course of his life. Icart borrowed whatever books he could find by Hugo at the Toulouse library, devouring the tales, rich in both romantic imagery and the dilemmas of the human condition. It was through Icart's love of the theater that he developed a taste for all the arts, though the urge to paint was not as yet as strong for him as the urge to act. It was not until his move to Paris in 1907 that Icart would concentrate on painting, drawing and the production of countless beautiful etchings, which have served (more than the other mediums) to indelibly preserve his name in twentieth century art history. Art Deco, a term coined at the 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Decoratifs, had taken its grip on the Paris of the 1920s. By the late 1920s Icart, working for both publications and major fashion and design studios, had become very successful, both artistically and financially. His etchings reached their height of brilliance in this era of Art Deco, and Icart had become the symbol of the epoch. Yet, although Icart has created for us a picture of Paris and New York life in the 1920s and 1930s, he worked in his own style, derived principally from the study of eighteenth-century French masters such as Jean Antoine Watteau, François Boucher and Jean Honoré Fragonard. In Icart's drawings, one sees the Impressionists Degas and Monet and, in his rare watercolors, the Symbolists Odilon Redon and Gustave Moreau. In fact, Icart lived outside the fashionable artistic movements of the time and was not completely sympathetic to contemporary art. Nonetheless, his Parisian scenes are a documentation of the life he saw around him and they are nearly as popular today as when they were first produced. Art Deco was a period of perfection of workmanship, and in this Icart's art is tied closely to the period. He was an expert craftsman and aimed for perfection in his etching technique. Art Deco was also a smart and sophisticated style, and Icart surrounded himself with rich materials, fine furniture, Chinese lacquer screens, and other luxuries. This refinement of taste and the luxury with which he lived also linked him to the opulent spirit of the times. Fashions were undergoing major transition. Women were eager to divest themselves of the heavy overflow of lace, cotton, buckles, and high necklines worn by their mothers. New trends called for higher waistlines, and for clothing that clung to the body rather than billowing out. Icart reflected such fashion changes in, for example, his famous and inimitable illustrations for the magazine Luxe de Paris.