Legrand, Louis

Louis Legrand was a French artist, born in Dijon in 1863 and deceased in 1951. He was an aquatint engraver, painter and draughtsman, and became especially known for his graphic work, often of an erotic nature. He was named a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1906.

He began his career as a bank clerk, while studying art part-time at the École des Beaux-Arts in Dijon, where he received the Devosge Prize in 1883. In 1884, he perfected his skills in printmaking under the Belgian engraver Félicien Rops.

His body of work includes over 300 prints and paintings, centred around Parisian nightlife, with scenes of dancers, cafés, prostitutes and the Moulin Rouge. His style shows affinities with Toulouse-Lautrec, though his depictions of cancan life and Montmartre preceded those of Lautrec. His keen observation, technical finesse and ironic undertone were widely praised.

He also gained fame through his illustrations for the magazine Gil Blas, with texts by Eugène Rodrigues (writing under the pseudonym Erastene Ramiro). The print run of 60,000 copies in 1891 was exceptional. These prints were later collected in the volume Le Cours de Danse Fin de Siècle (1892), published by Dentu.

In the series Au Cap de la Chèvre, inspired by a stay in Brittany, he depicted rural life in fourteen lithographs. These were published by Gustave Pellet, his close friend and regular publisher, who would also publish works by Toulouse-Lautrec and Rops.

Two of his satirical prints led to a trial for obscenity: Prostitution and Naturalisme, the latter a caricature involving Émile Zola. Legrand was acquitted in the first instance, but convicted on appeal and sentenced to a short prison term after refusing to pay the imposed fine.

From 1902 onwards, he exhibited at the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 2006, his work was posthumously honoured with a retrospective at the Félicien Rops Museum in Namur. (BT)