London-based fashion illustration gallery Gray MCA has brought an edition of their acclaimed 2021 exhibition ‘Drawing on Style’ to New York City. The week-long exhibition, hosted by Galerie Didier Aaron as part of ‘Master Drawings New York’, features contemporary fashion illustrations by the likes of David Downton, Jason Brooks and Bil Donovan alongside past greats such as Antonio, Carl Erickson and Rene Gruau. The works range from the 1940s to the present day and, according to Connie Gray, co-founder of Gray MCA, “show the evolution of the genre as a discipline”.
Established fifteen years ago, Gallery Gray MCA’s mission is to show fashion illustration as a fine art, and indeed the space it occupies within the ‘Master Drawings’ includes works by Rubens, Picasso and goya
“Fashion illustration was almost secondary until recently,” Gray tells FashionUnited. “They were looked down on a little bit because it was illustrative art, commissioned work, and for some reason people didn’t take it that seriously. But they are all the most fabulous visual artists, all published, greatly admired and incredibly successful in their time.”
Elevate fashion illustration to art
But Gray is helping fashion illustration shed its inferiority complex through exhibitions such as ‘Drawing on Style’ and the resulting press coverage in London art magazines and the art section of newspapers. “We now have collectors around the world who have very significant art collections and who are adding fashion illustration to their collections, and that’s exciting,” says Gray. “When you see an artist like René Gruau fetching at Sotheby’s or Christie’s auctions for ten to fifty thousand euros, often more, it means that fashion illustration is taking on a higher profile.”
Gray credits her father, an art dealer who also collected fashion illustrations on the side, with sparking her passion for fashion illustration. Her parents didn’t allow her to hang posters of pop stars on her bedroom wall as a teenager, but she was allowed to hang fashion illustrations. “I literally fell asleep daydreaming about these women, where they went, what they wore, their backstory and everything else.” She married an art dealer and together they opened a gallery dedicated to the genre.
Whether in New York or Palm Beach, Drawing on Style’s works are all for sale, but it’s not always the gallery that releases valuable pieces to the public. Some of Gray’s most exciting works were brought to her by private individuals who inherited drawings from family members and were unsure of their value. “Some amazing bouchés from Saks Fifth Avenue from the 1950s that are just exquisite,” were recently discovered this way, Gray said. The gallery is working closely with the curators of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London to have her lovingly restored.
A traditionally male-dominated field, fashion illustration, is becoming more inclusive. “It’s one of the best things I see,” Gray says. “Gladys Perint Palmer, featured in this exhibition, was probably one of the first in the twentieth century to really break the mold. While other female illustrators worked, fashion was generally drawn by men and worn by women. Now there are so many female fashion illustrators, and great ones at them. It is now a very equal discipline for everyone.”
Drawing On Style, Gray MCA at Didier Aaron Inc. was shown January 22-29. Coinciding with the exhibition, Gray MCA, in partnership with the Society of Illustrators, hosted a virtual panel discussion, Fashion Illustration: The Evolution of Elegance, featuring five eminent illustrators, David Downton, Glenn Tunstull, Jason Brooks, Steven Stipelman and Bil Donovan on January 25 at 6pm.
This is a translation of an English post by Jackie Mallon. Jackie Mallon teaches fashion in New York and is the author of ‘Silk for the Feed Dogs’, a novel set in the international fashion industry. Translation and editing: Barbara Russ.