Jean-Gabriel DOMERGUE - "La pin-up", Gravure originale - 1951

Manuel Robbe : (1872-1936) is a french painter and engraver. During WWI, he was signing his works with the pseudonym «Laffitte». After highschool, he studied at the Académie Julian, and then at the Ecole des Beaux-arts de Paris. He rapidly became an accomplished engraver, specializing in the aquatint technique. He regularly exhibited at the Salons de la Société des artistes français. Parisian Art dealers like Edmond Sagot, Georges Petit and Pierrefort edited and distributed his engraved works. In 1900, during the Universal Exhibition, his work "L'été" (Summer) was awarded with a bronze medal. Manuel Robbe produced a lot of aquatints, drypoint engravings, etchings, a few advertisements and numerous one of a kind works (oil on canvas, watercolors or pastels). During WWI, he enrolled in the aviation as a pilot, and was awarded the croix de guerre (war cross) for his heroic actions. His works are witnessing in a moving way the life of women and men of his time. Manuel Robbe loved traveling. He had a true attachment to Brittany, which he depicted on numerous occasions. Suffering from an incurable illness, he died in 1936.
Jean-Gabriel Domergue : Jean-Gabriel Domergue was a french painter trained at the Paris National School of Fine Arts. In 1938, he created a composition with a naked young woman for the new perfume "Féerie" by Rigaud. The following year, he created a poster for the first Cannes Film Festival. In 1950, he is named member of the Institut de France, and became the curator of the Musée Jacquemart-André from 1955 to 1962. The parisian woman was one of his favourite subjects, he refered to himself as the "inventor of the pin-up". Nadine Lhopitalier, (Nadine de Rothschild) was one of his models. The artist died in 1962 in Paris.