Louis Icart (1888-1950)
Well known for his sleek and often erotic images of flapper women in extravagant poses, frequently with their canine companions or horses, Louis Icart was born in 1888 as Louis Justin Laurent Icart in Toulouse, France. He began drawing at an early age, evidencing a particular interest in fashion.Icart came to Paris in 1907 and began to study printmaking techniques. He was introduced to the capital's fashion scene by Leon Pavi, who was an editor at La Critique Theatricale, a Parisian theatre monthly. For several years Icart worked for major design studios at a time when fashion was undergoing a radical change-from the fussiness of the late nineteenth century to the simple, clingy lines of the early twentieth century. His first solo exhibition was in 1912 in Barcelona, Spain. In 1914, Icart met Fanny Volmers, who eventually became his wife and the model for many of his etchings.
Icart's artistic career was interrupted by World War I, during which he used his drawing talents to relieve the stress generated by the carnage all around him. When Icart returned from the war front these drawings formed the basis for a large collection of well regarded aquatints and etchings.
His unique and classic art nouveau style gained Icart an international audience in the 1920's. As his artistic work continued to develop into the 1930's it became more imaginative and powerful with bursts of color. His women were more independent and provocative, no longer a passive spectacle.
There is little agreement among auction houses, galleries and even collectors on the proper designation of Icart etchings. Keeping aside his oils, charcoals and infrequent watercolors, all of the 550 or so works produced in Icart's approximately 40 years of artistic endeavor were etchings: most with drypoint, most with aquatint and some with hand-coloring.
The etching process consisted of covering a copper plate with a wax resist material, drawing the image through the wax and etching the lines of the image just drawn, in an acid bath. The longer the bath the deeper the lines. Drypoint followed the etching process and consisted of burnishing some of the etching lines deeper, or wider, or both, with a tool made for that purpose. These deeper/wider lines when inked allowed for emphasizing portions of the image.
Aquatint took place after the drypoint process (if one was performed) and consisted of rubbing color onto multiples of the etching plate for transferal to the printed paper. The most difficult part of this process was in registering the images on each plate to avoid blurring when overlaid. Hand-coloring took place on small areas of the work such as lips, fingernails, toenails and alike which were too localized for the aquatint process.
It can be safely said that all the works were etchings. It can be almost certainly be said that all the works had added drypoint. Those works to which the aquatint process or hand-coloring were applied are self evident. With or without the forgoing knowledge, auction houses and galleries seem to select the Icart nomenclature randomly; some calling the works etching and drypoint, some etching and aquatint some etching with hand-coloring. p4A has chosen to call the pieces etching and drypoint in our headline descriptions and leave the recognition of aquatint and/or hand-coloring to be made by inspection of any given image. A minor complication to the process of identification and authenticating Icart's work was introduced when some 60 images were reproduced by the lithographic process of drawing directly onto a lithographic stone. Among the more notable of these is a portfolio of 24 lithographs entitled Dessins de Femmes produced in 1928 in an edition of 500. These 24, as well as the other works produced on a lithographic stone, were signed in the stone. The Icart lithographic images are identified as such in p4A records.
Because Icart's works were so much in demand, he frequently made two editions (one European, the other American) to satisfy his public. Icart died in his home in the Monmartre section of Paris in 1950, however the appeal of his work lives on and they continue to be highly collected today.
For more detailed information on the life and work of Louis Icart p4A recommends you consult one or more of these reference books:
S. Michael Schnessel, Icart, New York, Clarkson N. Potter Inc., 1976. This is the comprehensive telling of Icart's life story accompanied by pictures and descriptions of the works which were registered with the U.S. office of Copyright, all other works to be later catalogued by others. The index of works includes naming them both in French and English including multiple English names for the same piece (this occurs because the pieces were originally named in French and given English names, sometimes haphazardly, by American dealers and distributors of Icart's work). This book also explains Icart's participation in producing livres d'artiste, which were illustrated books from which come what are sometimes called erotic book plates.
S. Michael Schnessel & Mel Karmel, The Etchings of Louis Icart, Exton Pennsylvania, Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1982. This book, while not a catalog raissonnee, nonetheless lists and pictures some 400 works, leaving approximately 150 more to complete a catalog raissonnee. The book catalogs the images by period of publication and the authors indicate that prior to 1920 perhaps 100 or fewer multiples were made of any image. During the war the number occasionally rose to 175; from 1920 to 1924, as Icart's popularity in the U.S. began to rise, multiples of up to 350 were produced; from 1924 to 1927 up to 500 of an image would be made and thereafter the number multiples would be dictated by demand. After 1920 a blind stamp was embossed in the margin of each image which was intended for sale outside of France. The presence of the blind stamp is conclusive as to authenticity. The absence of it, while raising questions as to authenticity, is inconclusive.
William R. Holland, Clifford P. Catania & Nathan D. Isen, Louis Icart, The Complete Etchings, West Chester, Pennsylvania, Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 1990. The authors represent that the approximately 550 works (60 of which are lithographs and the balance etchings) catalogued and illustrated represent Icart's complete body of work. Also included is an appendix for cross-referencing the different English names of various pieces and for identification of the varied copyright information found on many pieces.
William R. Holland, Louis Icart, Erotica, Atglen, Pennsylvania, Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1998. The so-called "erotic" works are almost always taken from "artist's books" or livres d'artiste which were novels, frequently racy, illustrated by Icart and published in a limited edition mainly for the well-to-do market in France. The illustrations for these limited editions were not bound into the books but were presented in their own slip case. They were rarely if ever signed since Icart made a point of not signing illustrations for livres d'artiste, yet one rarely sees one of these illustration which is not signed with a perfect looking signature. The immediate conclusion for these illustrations is "buyer beware". The follow-on thought is that these pieces are unmistakably done by Icart, fake signature or not. Icart illustrated 24 books, the illustration for 12 of which are shown in this reference book with the other 12 books named in an appendix.
p4A.com acknowledges the assistance of Paul & Elizabeth Lauer in the preparation of this reference note.