Gaston Noury

Who is Gaston Noury?

Gaston Noury was a French painter, poster artist, illustrator, cartoonist and theatrical costume designer, working in Le Havre and Paris, where he settled around 1889. His prolific output covered a wide variety of subjects and his images were used for posters, books, postcards, songbooks, genre scenes and fashion plates. He provided illustrations for magazines such as La Chronique parisienne, Saint-Nicolas, Gil Blas illustré, Journal amusant, and Les Hommes d'aujourd'hui.

Noury grew up in Elbeuf where his grandfather was founder and director of the local museum.

Noury designed costumes for the Moulin Rouge and Ambassadeurs in the Montmartre district. Most of these costume drawings are dated 1910. The costumes are both childishly innocent and provocative - floral designs and fabrics with seductive cutouts showing legs, midriff, cleavage and sometimes bare breasts. The drawings combine pencil and watercolour washes, portraying young women with stylised faces and delicate hands and feet.