11 December 2010

René Gruau fashion drawings




I spent last Sunday swooning over fashion illustration exhibitions with my mum. First stop was Drawing Fashion at the Design Museum, a whistlestop tour through a range of work, beginning with shy and precise pencil sketches by Erté from 1915, right through to present day with Aurore de la Morinerie's impressionistic silhouettes. I was disappointed that the exhibition panels didn't give more pointers on the differences in drawing style, yet it was well worth a visit for the range of gorgeous works on view.




The highlight of the exhibition for me was the work of René Gruau in the 1950s and 1960s, the artist responsible for the images in this post. Bizarrely, however, the second exhibition we went to - Dior Illustrated at Somerset House - was entirely dedicated to Gruau, yet as far as I could tell there was no cooperation or cross-promotion between the two venues, which seemed like a wasted opportunity. The second exhibition gave visitors much more comprehensive information, yet suffered from Dior perfume promotion overkill. Nonetheless, it was a great opportunity to admire a range of work by a bold artist with a knack for capturing a moment or a gesture in a few sweeping lines.