“faust” By Louis Icart (1888 -1950)

Aquatint lithograph, etching process.
Signed in pencil, publisher's dry stamp, annotated in the plate "Copyright 1928 by L. Icart - Paris / Edited by Les Graveurs Moderne, 194 rue de Rivoli, Paris".
Dimensions: 62 cm x 45 cm
Sold unframed.
Shipping: Packaged in a reinforced tube and delivered by registered Colissimo with insurance, for Metropolitan France: €20 - Europe: €25
Louis Icart (1888-1950) was a French painter, engraver, and illustrator. Impressed by his drawing skills, his aunt brought him to Paris: she owned the Maison Valmont, a prominent milliner of the Belle Époque. Louis Icart was then introduced to the world of illustration for the fashion press. He drew for the periodical "La Critique théâtrale" and for the catalogs of haute couture houses. Trained as an etcher, he presented his original works at the Salon des Humoristes: his portraits of women and Parisian women began to attract the public; he was compared to Paul-César Helleu and Manuel Robbe.
During the First World War, Icart was an airplane pilot, flew several air missions, but continued to draw. In 1920, he exhibited more than thirty canvases expressing an Art Deco style at the Simonson Gallery in Paris, then, in 1922, at the Belmaison Gallery in New York. Following this exhibition, Icart's etchings enjoyed some success in America until 1932. His oeuvre includes more than five hundred engravings. He also participated in the illustration of some thirty books, including a good number of erotic works. During the Occupation, Icart composed an etched series entitled L'Exode. His work fell into oblivion after the war, but reawakened interest when, in the 1970s, some of his early paintings were found in the attic of an art school.