Louis Auguste Mathieu Legrand (29 September 1863 – 1951) was a French artist, known especially for his

aquatint Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. It has also been used h ...

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...

s, which were sometimes

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scul ...

. He was awarded the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

for his work in 1906.

Life

Legrand was born in the city of

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

in the east of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He worked as a bank clerk before deciding to study art part-time at Dijon's Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He won the Devosge prize at the school in 1883. In 1884 Legrand studied engraving under the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...

Félicien Rops Félicien Victor Joseph Rops (7 July 1833 – 23 August 1898) was a Belgian artist associated with Symbolism and the Parisian Fin-de Siecle. He was a painter, illustrator, caricaturist and a prolific and innovative print maker, particularly in ...

. Legrand's artworks include etchings, graphic art and paintings. His paintings featured Parisian social life. Many were of

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

s, dancers and bar scenes, which featured a sense of

eroticism Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...

. According to the Hope Gallery, "Louis Legrand is simply one of France's finest early twentieth century masters of etching." His black and white etchings especially provide a sense of decadence; they have been compared to those of

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the ...

, though his drawings of the

Moulin Rouge Moulin Rouge (, ; ) is a cabaret in Paris, on Boulevard de Clichy, at Place Blanche, the intersection of, and terminus of Rue Blanche. In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Olympia (P ...

, the can-can dance and the young women of

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

preceded Toulouse-Lautrec's paintings of similar scenes. He made over three hundred prints of the night life of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. They demonstrate "his remarkable powers of observation and are executed with great skill, delicacy, and an ironic sense of humor that pervades them all." Two of his

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

artworks caused him to be tried for

obscenity An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be use ...

. The first, "Prostitution" was a symbolic drawing which depicted a naked girl being grasped by a dark monster which had the face of an old woman and claws on its hands; the second, "Naturalism", showed the French

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

minutely studying the thighs of a woman with a

magnifying glass A magnifying glass is a convex lens that is used to produce a magnified image of an object. The lens is usually mounted in a frame with a handle. A magnifying glass can be used to focus light, such as to concentrate the sun's radiation to crea ...

. Defended by his friend the lawyer Eugène Rodrigues-Henriques (1853–1928), he was found not guilty in the lower court, but was convicted in the appeal court and then given a short prison sentence for refusing to pay his fine. Legrand was made famous by his colour illustrations for

Gil Blas ''Gil Blas'' (french: L'Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane ) is a picaresque novel by Alain-René Lesage published between 1715 and 1735. It was highly popular, and was translated several times into English, most notably as The Adventures of G ...

magazine's coverage of the can-can, with text by Rodrigues (who wrote under the pseudonym Erastene Ramiro). It was a tremendous success, with an exceptional quantity of 60,000 copies of the magazine being printed and instantly sold out in 1891. In 1892, at the instigation of the publishing house Dentu, Legrand made a set of etchings of his Gil Blas illustrations. The etchings were published in a book, ''Le Cours de Danse Fin de Siecle'' (''The End of the Century Dance Classes''). Legrand took a holiday in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

, which inspired him to engrave a set of fourteen

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

s of simple country life called ''Au Cap de la Chevre'' (''On Goat Promontory''). It was published by

Gustave Pellet Gustave Pellet (1859–1919) was a French publisher of art. He is best known for publishing prints of erotic artworks by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Louis Legrand. Life and work Gustave Jean Baptiste Xavier Pellet was born to a wealthy family. ...

who became a close friend of Legrand's. Pellet eventually published a total of 300 etchings by Legrand, who was his first artist; he also published Toulouse-Lautrec and

among others. He did not only work in graphics; he exhibited paintings at the Paris salon of the

Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (SNBA; ; en, National Society of Fine Arts) was the term under which two groups of French artists united, the first for some exhibitions in the early 1860s, the second since 1890 for annual exhibitions. 1862 Es ...

starting in 1902. In 1906 he was made a chevalier of the

. Legrand died in obscurity in 1951. A retrospective exhibition was held at the Félicien Rops museum in

Namur, Belgium Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namu ...

in 2006 to celebrate his graphic art. The art collector Victor Arwas published a

catalogue raisonné A ''catalogue raisonné'' (or critical catalogue) is a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist either in a particular medium or all media. The works are described in such a way that they may be reliably identified ...

for the occasion. Naturalisme Legrand.jpg, "Naturalism", 1890 File:(Albi) Elégante à l'éventail (c1900), Pastel, Louis Legrand.jpg, ''Elégante à l'éventail'', c. 1900 File:(Albi) Le Cancan au bal Bullier (~1895) - Louis Legrand.jpg, ''Le Cancan au bal Bullier'', c. 1895 File:Exposition des oeuvres de Louis Legrand - Galerie Georges Petit (1904) (14763685142).jpg, Mme. G..., 1904 File:Exposition des oeuvres de Louis Legrand - Galerie Georges Petit (1904) (14577387728).jpg, "Praying man", 1904 File:Exposition des oeuvres de Louis Legrand - Galerie Georges Petit (1904) (14761656804).jpg, ''Etude de nu'', 1904 File:Skämtbilden och dess historia i konsten (1910) (14578244139).jpg, "Temporary acquaintance", 1910 File:Petite marcheuse par Louis Legrand.jpg, ''Petite marcheuse'', 1910

Books illustrated

* de Maupassant, Guy: ''Cinq Contes Parisiens'', 1905. * Poe, Edgar Alan: ''Quinze Histoires d'Edgar Poe'', 1897.

Awards and exhibitions

* 1896: First solo exhibition, Paris. * 1900: Silver Medal, Universal Exhibition, Paris. * 1906: Légion d'honneur. * 1911: Retrospective exhibition, Palais de Modes, Paris. * 2006: Retrospective exhibition, Félicien Rops Museum,

Works in collections

* ''Joie Maternelle'' ("Maternal Joy"), 1900, Yale Medical Historical Library. * ''Titi''. Brooklyn Museum.

References

Bibliography

* Arwas, Victor
''Belle Époque'': Louis Legrand
New York, 1978. * Arwas, Victor
''Louis Legrand: Catalogue Raisonné''
Papadakis, 2006. * Kahn, Gustave. ''Louis Legrand''. Special issue of "L'Art et le Beau" magazine, 1908. * Mauclair, Camille. ''Études sur quelques artistes originaux. Louis Legrand, peintre et graveur''. Paris, 1910.

External links

OldandSold: Louis Legrand

Flickr: Louis Legrand, "Faune Parisienne" 1918

Julian Simon Fine Art: Legrand, Louis Auguste Mathieu

Georgina Kelman: Legrand, Louis

Biography by Victor Arwas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Legrand 1863 births 1951 deaths 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French engravers Artists from Dijon French erotic artists French portrait painters Knights of the Legion of Honour 20th-century French printmakers 19th-century French male artists