Edy Legrand - Woman With Dove - Lithograph c 1930s AP1469
A fantastic face, and a stunning print by the noted French artist and illustrator.
Limited edition 88/150. Art measures 10 3/4" x 14 1/2" and the frame is 18 1/8" x 21 1/4".
Edouard (Edy) Legrand French, 1892–1970
Edy-Legrand, whose real name was Edward Louis Warschawsky Leon, was born in Bordeaux in 1892, and died in Bonnieux in 1970. He was a French illustrator and painter. He made the first part of his career in advertising illustration and literature. Later, his work was devoted to painting. He attended the Ecole des Beaux Artes in Paris, the Art Academy in Munich, and then lived and worked for Tolmer Publishing House in Paris for much of his career. After the Second World War, he spent much time in New York where he worked as an illustrator for various publishers.
Legrand was born in Bordeaux, France to a French mother and a Russian-Jewish father. In 1919, as a young painter , Edy-Legrand created the first children's book, Macao and Cosmage or Experience Happiness, for the New French Review. The compositions are colored by hand by Jean Saudé. This album was greeted with exceptional praise when rediscovered in the 1980s and applauded as a milestone in the history of illustrated book for children.
In 1932, Edy-Legrand participated in the first World Exhibition of engraved works of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he represented France. In this exhibit was also work by Picasso, Matisse and Derain, but Edy-Legrand was the only one to receive an honorable mention.
Subsequently, he moved to Rabat , in Morocco. Of this period, Jacques Majorelle wrote:
"In Morocco, Edy-Legrand was fascinated by the elements of life that he discovered in the unceasing movement of crowds and the vibration of color by the play of light on the costumes and decor. The show is so totally pictorial he complains, at first, to be obliged to fight against the temptation to faithfully reproduce external reality [...]. The more he painted, the more clearly he affirmed its independence vis-à-vis the spectacle of nature. He loved above all to recreate the thrill of the material by the infinite combinations of colored masses. "
He was married to the choreographer Myriam Edy-Legrand, born June 4, 1926.
Books illustrated
Octave Mirbeau , L'Abbé Jules and The Torture Garden , National Publishing, 1935.
Albert Camus , The Plague The 12 watercolors Radius Gold nrf, 1950, 2 volumes, Illustrations Edy Legrand, Imprimerie Nationale / Editor André Sauret, 1962.
Charles Vildrac , Glasses Lion Illustrations by Edy Legrand, Paul Hartmann Publisher, Paris, 1932.
Macao and Cosmage or experience happiness by Edy Legrand, published by the French Nouvelle Revue, Paris, 1919.
