Paul Colin (1892 Nancy, France - 1985 Nogent-sur-Marne, France) was a prolific master illustrator of Decorative Art posters. A professional artist, scenographer, graphic designer and theatre painter. He specialised in theatre sets, book design and costume design. During his lifetime he created over 1900 posters and worked in theatre for more than 40 years. He was influenced by Surrealism and Cubism, typically using very exaggerated shapes, striking colours and stylised art forms in his work. He used a large palette of colours to emphasise the energy and meaning conveyed by his subjects, and his art is strongly in the style of the Art Deco movement. Many of his most famous illustrations were created for Jazz Age music and theatre. His designs incorporate jazz elements, highly stylised or caricaturised humanoids are strangely juxtaposed with geometrically overlapping objects such as Cubist collages. His own background in painting and his love of theatre helped him to become one of the most important French poster artists of the 1920s and 1930s.
For more biographical information and for earlier works, see part 1 also.
This is part 2 of a 7 part series on the works of Paul Colin:
 |
|
 |
| 1928 Portrait of Marguerite Valmond oil on canvas 91.4 x 86.3 cm |
 |
| 1928 La Nuit du Theatre, Luna Park (Theatre Night, Luna Park) colour lithograph 158.8 x 117.5 cm |
 |
| 1928 Impression de Rugby au casino de Paris (Rugby print at the Paris casino) watercolour & charcoal on paper 45 x 60 cm |
 |
| 1928 La Nuit de la Fourrure (Fur Night) colour lithograph 56.5 x 40 cm |
 |
| 1928 Saint-Granier, Casino de Paris colour lithograph 158.7 x 116.8 cm |
 |
| 1928 Tabarin colour lithograph 159.1 x 118.1 cm MoMA, New York |
 |
| 1930 Line Viala colour lithograph 156 x 114.5 cm |
 |
| c1928 Jazz Dance Maquette colour lithograph 81.1 x 66 cm |
 |
| c1928 Jazz Dancers gouache & crayon drawing 86 x 69 cm |
 |
| c1928 Josephine Baker ink and gouache drawing 17.2 x 12 cm |
 |
| 1929 Le Train Fantôme, The Ghost Train colour lithograph 156.6 x 119 cm |
 |
| 1929 La Rouille au Theatre de l'Avenue colour lithograph 155.5 x 118.7 cm |
 |
| 1929 Damia two-colour lithograph 160 x 119 cm |
 |
| 1929 André Renaud colour lithograph 160 x 120 cm |
 |
| 1929 Two revue dancers colour lithograph 46 x 31 cm |
 |
| 1929 Sylvie colour lithograph 160 x 121.9 cm |
 |
| 1929 Plus Ca Change...de RIP colour lithograph 158 x 117.5 cm |
 |
| 1929 Les Mathurins Le Collier colour lithograph 58.5 x 38.8 cm |
1929 Le Tuumulte Noire: A complete portfolio, limited to 500 copies, of lithographs heightened with pochoir, published in tribute "to Josephine Baker and the other African American performers who had captivated the Parisian public during les années folles, those 'crazy years' known in America as the Roaring Twenties. With this work, Colin captured the spirit and movement of the wild dance, the Charleston, newly imported from the United States of America, and the syncopated rhythms of a new art form called jazz. Karen C. C. Dalton and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "Josephine Baker and Paul Colin: African American Dance Seen through Parisian Eyes.
---------------------------------------------
 |
| 1930 Vedette Columbia Line Viala colour lithograph 156 x 114.5 cm |
 |
| 1930 La Main de Singe (The Monkey's Hand) Théatre du Frand-Guignol colour lithograph 150 x 111 cm |
 |
| 1930 Josephine Baker, Disques Columbia colour lithograph 76.8 x 58.5 cm |
 |
| 1930 Jean Sarment lithograph 156 x 118 cm |
 |
| 1930 Apollo, Jane Marnac dans Au Temps des Valses (In the Time of Waltzes) gouache maquette 50.8 x 36 cm |
 |
| 1930 Bagnoles-de-l'Orne, Varices Phlebites colour lithograph 100 x 63 cm |
 |
| 1930 Alice Dufrêne colour lithograph 152.4 x 114.3 cm |
