Georges Lepape (1887-1971).
From the group of young artists fresh from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts who rose to prominence immediately before the Great War, Lepape was the greatest. From the first, his work was a model of refinement, simplicity and visual wit.
In the Paris of Picasso and Braque, deep in their cubist adventure, of the first expressionist abstractions of Kandisky, of Matisse, of Leger and Modigliani, of young Strawinsky, of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, all movement and splendor, music and lavish colors, artistic avantgarde sank deep into consciousness and extended enormously the pictorial opportunities available to other artists of all kinds. In 1911, Paul Poiret, the radically experimental couturier to the more adventurous among „le Haut Monde“, issued in a limited edition a slim volume of his work called „Les Choses de Poiret“ illustrated by the young Georges Lepape who became famous overnight.
Between 1912 and 1925, Lepape did his most inspired work for La Gazette du Bon Ton, an exquisitely refined and luxurious work which was to have, despite its short career a very strong influence. He also contributed to Modes et Manières d’Aujourd’hui (1911), Les Feuillets d’Arts (1919), Femina, French Vogue, etc.. In the early twenties, his drawings began to appear in America, in Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair and especially in Vogue. It can be said that the twenties in Vogue belonged to Lepape who between 1920 and 1930 contributed well over 70 covers, more than twice as many as anyone of his collegues. Seen as a whole, this body of work stands as a splendid and remarkable achievement, a sustained demonstration of graphic resource, invention and technique of a very high order. Lepape produced time after time memorable and striking images which immediately bring back to life the spirit of the artistically richest years of this century.
From the group of young artists fresh from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts who rose to prominence immediately before the Great War, Lepape was the greatest. From the first, his work was a model of refinement, simplicity and visual wit.
In the Paris of Picasso and Braque, deep in their cubist adventure, of the first expressionist abstractions of Kandisky, of Matisse, of Leger and Modigliani, of young Strawinsky, of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, all movement and splendor, music and lavish colors, artistic avantgarde sank deep into consciousness and extended enormously the pictorial opportunities available to other artists of all kinds. In 1911, Paul Poiret, the radically experimental couturier to the more adventurous among „le Haut Monde“, issued in a limited edition a slim volume of his work called „Les Choses de Poiret“ illustrated by the young Georges Lepape who became famous overnight.
Between 1912 and 1925, Lepape did his most inspired work for La Gazette du Bon Ton, an exquisitely refined and luxurious work which was to have, despite its short career a very strong influence. He also contributed to Modes et Manières d’Aujourd’hui (1911), Les Feuillets d’Arts (1919), Femina, French Vogue, etc.. In the early twenties, his drawings began to appear in America, in Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair and especially in Vogue. It can be said that the twenties in Vogue belonged to Lepape who between 1920 and 1930 contributed well over 70 covers, more than twice as many as anyone of his collegues. Seen as a whole, this body of work stands as a splendid and remarkable achievement, a sustained demonstration of graphic resource, invention and technique of a very high order. Lepape produced time after time memorable and striking images which immediately bring back to life the spirit of the artistically richest years of this century.
