Louis Icart "Smoke", 1926
copper plate engraving on paper 14"x19" Louis Justin Laurent Icart, Helli 1880 - 1950 Toulouse, France
Louis Icart, nicknamed Helli at birth, was born to a modest banker and his wife in Toulouse, France. Helli was talented. As a young person, he loved the works of Victor Hugo, read every book he could get his hands on and fell in love with the theater. He was determined to be an actor.
But Louis was schooled in business, as his father had hoped he would follow in his footsteps. When Helli announced he wanted to be an actor, he received a firm 'no' by his father.
At the age of sixteen, with a diploma in his hand, he left to find work, however, a military obligation found him first. After a very unsatisfying military stint, he landed in Paris.
While awaiting the 'right' employment, Icart took a job with a small studio that designed and distributed postcards. His job was to
hand-color the works of other artists. Like dozens of other postcard manufacturers, the company was modeled after the large studio of Alfred Noyer. Icart's employer created photographic and artist drawn images of female models known as 'actresses' for export out of France. Icart's function at the postcard company was critical to his later development as an artist. The subjects he was exposed to would eventually become
his trademark.
Although Icart had no training in an art school, in only a few months, he was creating his own postcards designs, using 'Helli' as his signature. He produced hundreds of postcards during the years of 1907-1908.
Eventually, after a long period of the typical 'starving artist', Louis Icart was introduced to the world of French fashion. He began illustrating for major design studios. He met and married Fanny Volmers
in 1914 and she became a model for many of his etchings. His magazine covers and etchings of beautiful women, captivated both the French and American audience. He now signed his work ' Louis Icart'.
By the mid 1920's, Icart's popularity soared, and the images he created are now considered to be 'classic Icart'. He was in his prime depicting glamorous women in settings that ranged from tame to risque. In the
1930's, Icart's work became more imaginative and powerful with bursts
of color. The women portrayed were more independent and provocative.

Louis Icart died in his home in Monmartre, 1950 in Paris. His art, however, has never lost its appeal and remains as fresh today as the day he created it.