Léon Benigni: 'Tween-Wars Fashion Illustrator

Léon Benigni (1892-1948) was one of several fashion-related illustrators whose similar styles helped to visually define the years between the two world wars.

Unfortunately, aside from his dates and the names of many of his clients, there seems to be next to no biographical information about him on the Internet. One example of this paucity is here.

Here are some images of Benigni's work for clients in France and elsewhere.

Gallery

This seems to be considered his most famous poster design.

Some fashion illustrations, some perhaps for magazine covers.

No signature, by credited to Benigni on the Web.

A 1936 illustration showing a style adjustment to keep up with illustration fashions of the 30s.

From 1935, a minimalist fashion illustration.

Below are four examples of illustrations Benigni made for 1931 Cadillacs and LaSalles. Click on them to enlarge.

Stanley Cursiter Portrays Poppy Low

The image above is of the painting "A Summer Night" (1923) by Stanley Cursiter (1887-1976) featuring Poppy Low. Cursiter was from the Orkneys, but spent most of his career in Edinburgh where, among other things, he was Director of the National Galleries of Scotland. During the Great War he devised a new means of interpreting aerial reconnaissance photographs. He was also a champion of modernist art and some of his paintings were in that mode both early and late in his career, though they were not very good in my judgment.

Biographical information on Cursiter can be found here, here, and here, but some important details vary.

Beside dabbling in modernism, Cursiter also painted landscapes, particularly of Orkney scenes. Where he excelled was portraiture. Besides the usual mix of politicians and military officers, he painted some interesting works featuring family and friends. One of those friends was Poppy Low, who seemed to be somewhere around 16-22 years old when Cursiter was using her as a favorite model. Several of those paintings were group portraits that included his attractive wife Phyllis and his sister.

The images below are copyrighted by his estate, but I hope the estate will not mind the publicity this post will provide Cursiter. Not every painting featuring Poppy is presented here. And it's possible that some of the young women who I thought were Poppy were actually someone else. (For instance, there's a portrait of "Roberta" that looks like Poppy. But might Poppy's actual name have been Roberta?) I should add that so far I have found no details regarding her life.

Gallery

Poppy and Phyllis at the Window
That would be Poppy on the right.

Black and White and Silver - 1921
An early paining featuring Poppy.

Girl with a Jug - 1921

Poppy Low - 1922

The Seamstress - 1923

Summer Afternoon
I think that's Poppy in the background.

House of Cards - 1924
I'm not so sure about this, though one source I skimmed stated the she was used for this painting.

Chez Nous: Artist, Self Portrait, Director of the National Galleries of Scotland, with his wife Phyllis Eda Hourston, and his model Poppy Low - 1925

Ernst Deutsch-Dryden: Elegant Illustrator

Ernst Deutsch-Dryden (1887-1938), born in Vienna, died in Los Angeles, changed his last name from Deutsch to Dryden following some sort of plagiarism scandal. A German-text Wikipedia entry for him is here, but the automated translation is awkward. This is often the case, given German syntax. Also, his last name (Deutsch) is translated as "German" which is what Deutsch means in English, and this might add confusion for some readers. Much of the same ground is covered in English here.

Apparently Deutsch-Dryden (I decided to use both last names) was personally elegant as were the elegant subjects he depicted so elegantly.

His subjects were usually ladies and automobiles -- especially Bugattis.

Gallery

No, not radios: this Blaupunkt (Blue Dot) was a brand of cigarettes.

Poster for Bugatti Automobiles featuring a Type 35.

Cover art for Die Dame (The Lady) magazine. Yes, that's a Bugatti in the background.

Die Dame automobile number cover, November 1928.

Perhaps Die Dame cover art for its 1926 Christmas number.

Die Dame cover illustration.

Elegant scene.

Fashion illustration with a Bugatti-like car.

Fashion art with Venice as setting.

More elegance, but casual here.

Jane Régny was the pseudonym for a Parisian fashion designer specializing in sportswear.

More Edgar Maxence

Edgar Maxence (also Edgard Maxence -- né Edgar Henri Marie Aristide Maxence -- 1871-1954) was a French painter with a Symbolist bent. His English Wikipedia entry is here, but it's brief, and the French version is little better. I posted "Edgar Maxence: Symbolism via Women" here, and decided to present more images of his work in the present post.

Mexence mostly used attractive younger women as subjects and tended to place them in religious or otherwise spiritual settings. There were exceptions, of course, and a few are included below.

Gallery

Le calme du soir - 1903

Concert d'Anges - 1897

Jeanne Maxence - 1898

Le livre de la paix - 1929

Snow Queen
This painting and the one immediately above seem to have featured the same model.

Femme de profile lisant - 1914

Femme en prière
Two mixed-media works.

Siren

Femme - 1897

Portrait du femme

Portrait du femme - 1941
A fairly late work.

Howard Somerville, Who Cut Them Off at the Knees

Howard Somerville Adamson (1873-1952) who painted using the name Howard Somerville is one of those obscure British artists who made a few striking paintings.

It seems that the most complete biographical information is here, though it's accessible for many of us only on Fridays. It's worth reading if you find that you might be interested in the artist. Apparently he was reasonably successful, being fairly widely exhibited in his day. He also made illustrations to earn his keep. A detailed critique of Somerville is here.

The writer of the second link is Robert Holden, a New York City based artist who paints, among other subjects, portraits from life. Much of his post is a discussion regarding Somerville's possible use of photographs rather than live sitting as the basis for his portraiture. Holden has an axe to grind, given that he stresses his policy of painting from life in his blog's biographical statement. To me, this is not such a huge matter. Holden also complains about Somerville truncating his subjects around knee-level. This seems to be a signature style or trait Somerville probably used to distinguish his work; a number of his portraits have that feature, and some of them also feature a fairly large background area above the subject's head (a few examples are shown below).

The first link, on the other hand, stresses that Somerville made little use of photography. Apparently this was in response to more than one accusation that Somerville made much use of that vile technology.

Gallery

The Red Bernous

Norah
I find the two paintings above to be the most striking and interesting of Somerville's work. The portrait immediately above is of the actress Norah Baring.

Miss Norah Baring
Another portrait of Norah Baring. I could find no Internet photograph of Baring that matches the poses in the two portraits, so Somerville most likely did work from life or took his own reference photos or (perhaps most likely) made use of both possibilities in the same project. Note the amount of space above Baring's head.

Sylvia - 1922

Butler Wood

Elissa Landi
Another painting with plenty of space above the subject's head.

Elizabeth Woodville

Gypsy
The sitter's first name apparently was Florence, and she attested that she sat for this painting.

In the Studio IV, Self Portrait
No truncation at the knees here.