René Gruau & Al Hirschfeld

Here are some pictures of two illustrators whom I greatly admire and who both had their creative peak in or around the fifties of the 20th century.
I discovered René Gruau about 20 years ago, when I studied fashion at the Arnhem Fashion Institute. I fell for his highly fashionable illustrations and his bold lines and graphic colours. He seemed almost directly influenced by french artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Although in a very fifities and sixties style his best work can be described as timeless.
Al Hirschfeld is another artist who never bores me. One year ago I bought some of his books and one was filled with drawings he made of the people who lived in Harlem during the fourties of the twentieth century. The images have the same speed and vivacity as those of Gruau. Unlike his other work, Hirschfeld used colours in this book.