Sunday, June 3, 2012

Refined and Tender

Maurice Lalau is an illustrator that has been largely overlooked in the general history of the medium, even though his work was elegant and evocative of a Renaissance sensibility.

Once upon a time I rescued a L'illustration periodical from oblivion—in sad shape and ready to be thrown out, and several of the illustrations were by Lalau. This is one of them, so refined and tender, the date I do not know, and the title has the strangest 'g' I've ever encountered.

Maurice Lalau — Légende de St Gens — early 20th century
below, detail


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1 comment:

  1. AnnieJune 10, 2012 at 10:49 AM

    Hi Thom,

    As you already know, I own a copy of these pages; and I love them along with Lalau's work for Tristram and Iseult. This is the information I have about the illustrations, based on the seller I purchased the pages from, and another listing:

    A Medieval Short Story, The Legend of Saint Gens, by Hilaire Enjoubert from the December 1934 L'Illustration art magazine, about the hermit Saint from Southern France.

    It would be great if you published the rest of the pages, too; in your high resolution. There are the four all together, front and back, in the two pages of 11x15publication, with the gold gilt decoration. That must have been a great magazine, with its full page, beautifully printed art.

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