André Edouard MARTY
(Paris 1882 - Paris 1974)
A Concert in a Garden
Sold
Pen and black ink and black and grey wash.
Inscribed page 5and GL45 at the upper left and upper right corners.
368 x 263 mm. (14 1/2 x 10 3/8 in.) [image]
443 x 307 mm. (17 3/8 x 12 1/8 in.) [sheet]
Inscribed page 5and GL45 at the upper left and upper right corners.
368 x 263 mm. (14 1/2 x 10 3/8 in.) [image]
443 x 307 mm. (17 3/8 x 12 1/8 in.) [sheet]
This drawing was used to illustrate the story ‘La Rencontre d’un Passé’ by Lucie Delarue-Mardrus, which appeared in the magazine L’Illustration in December 1927. An author, sculptor, linguist and poet, Delarue-Madrus published seventy novels during her career, and much of her work took the form of a daring commentary on feminism and life between the wars. The story takes place after the devastation of the First World War, and describes a scene at an elaborate party, where people from all corners of the globe complain about their misfortunes. Unamused by the music, and more entranced by these ridiculous tales, the narrator describes her mood: ‘Jaded like everyone else, jaded by the pain of others, I was bored.’ Marty’s monochromatic design, where a portion of the paper is left blank for the text, illustrates the party which should be bright and vivacious. The nonchalant figures in the foreground and whimsical placement of the background figures are a simple yet accurate portrayal of Delarue-Madrus’s text: ‘In the Margit Islands, where we were once having tea, I would never forget how Lydia, while her husband was still talking in the distance, began to sing for herself the minor and slow words of a gypsy air, played in the groves by invisible musicians.’
As one contemporary writer noted of Marty’s work as an illustrator, ‘The very simplicity of his technique brought out the full wealth of Marty’s ideas, graphically expressed with delicacy of colour and arrangement.’
Two smaller pen and ink drawings by Marty for Delarue-Mardrus’s ‘La Rencontre d’un Passé’ were on the art market in Paris in 1975.
As one contemporary writer noted of Marty’s work as an illustrator, ‘The very simplicity of his technique brought out the full wealth of Marty’s ideas, graphically expressed with delicacy of colour and arrangement.’
Two smaller pen and ink drawings by Marty for Delarue-Mardrus’s ‘La Rencontre d’un Passé’ were on the art market in Paris in 1975.
After initially studying philosophy, and following a trip to Italy, André Edouard Marty began studying at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, in the studio of Fernand Cormon. It was at the Ecole des Beaux Arts that he met the artists Georges Lepape, Charles Martin and Pierre Brissaud, all of whom were also to work as fashion illustrators. He also came under the particular influence of the illustrator Maurice Boutet de Monvel, reflected in the refined and elegantly stylized figures found in his own work as an illustrator. Marty’s earliest published illustrations appeared in 1909 in the theatrical review Comoedia Illustré, to which he continued to contribute drawings over the coming years. In 1910 Marty was commissioned to design a poster advertising the Ballets Russes at the Opéra; the drawing for this is today in the collection of the Musée de la Publicité in Paris. He continued to work as a theatrical designer in later years but was chiefly occupied with producing numerous fashion illustrations for the magazine Gazette du Bon Ton, mainly between 1913 and 1925, alongside his fellow artists and illustrators Brissaud, Lepape, Martin and Boutet de Monvel. As one modern-day fashion illustrator has described him, ‘Of all the Gazette artists, Marty…was perhaps the most romantic and elegiac.’
After the First World War Marty continued to provide illustrations for the Gazette du Bon Ton, as well as for Vogue, Femina, L’Illustration des Modes, Monsieur, Harper’s Bazar, Le Sourire and House and Garden, among others. He also illustrated around fifty books, most notably Henri de Regnier’s Scènes Mythologiques, published in 1924, and produced designs for posters for London Transport. Working with the Compagnie des Arts Français, established by the architect Louis Süe and the decorator André Mare, Marty contributed to the decoration of the Pavillon Fontaine at the seminal Exposition des Arts Décoratifs of 1925, for which he also served on the jury. Twelve years later, at the Exposition Internationale of 1937, Marty again worked alongside Süe on the decoration of the jardin d’hiver of the Pavillon de la Société des Artistes Décorateurs, painting four wall panels devoted to the subjects of Pole Vaulting, Horseback Riding, Basketball and Tennis.
Exhibitions of Marty’s work were held in Paris at the Galerie Georges Petit in 1912, the Galerie Levesques in 1913, and at the Galerie Lucien Vogel and the Galerie Devambez in the 1920s.
After the First World War Marty continued to provide illustrations for the Gazette du Bon Ton, as well as for Vogue, Femina, L’Illustration des Modes, Monsieur, Harper’s Bazar, Le Sourire and House and Garden, among others. He also illustrated around fifty books, most notably Henri de Regnier’s Scènes Mythologiques, published in 1924, and produced designs for posters for London Transport. Working with the Compagnie des Arts Français, established by the architect Louis Süe and the decorator André Mare, Marty contributed to the decoration of the Pavillon Fontaine at the seminal Exposition des Arts Décoratifs of 1925, for which he also served on the jury. Twelve years later, at the Exposition Internationale of 1937, Marty again worked alongside Süe on the decoration of the jardin d’hiver of the Pavillon de la Société des Artistes Décorateurs, painting four wall panels devoted to the subjects of Pole Vaulting, Horseback Riding, Basketball and Tennis.
Exhibitions of Marty’s work were held in Paris at the Galerie Georges Petit in 1912, the Galerie Levesques in 1913, and at the Galerie Lucien Vogel and the Galerie Devambez in the 1920s.
Provenance
Galerie du Luxembourg, Paris, in 1975
Vincent Lécuyer, Paris
Private collection.
Vincent Lécuyer, Paris
Private collection.
Literature
Lucie Delarue-Mardrus, ‘La rencontre d’un passé’, L’Illustration, 3 December 1927.
Exhibition
Paris, Galerie du Luxembourg, Andre E. Marty 1882-1974, 1975-1976, no.57 (‘Concert dans un parc’).
