Edouard Chimot 1880 - 1959

Born in Lille, France and influenced by the likes of Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir and Rodin, Edouard Chimot was a “painter, graphic artist and self-taught printer who devoted his talent among other things to the illustration of books.

Chimot, considered the consummate French artist/illustrator had, in his time, interpreted over 20 books of classic literature including “Le Spleen de Paris” and “Les Fleurs du Mal” by Baudelaire, “Trois Contes” by Gustave Flaubert and “Lady Chatterley” by D.H. Lawrence.

As a meticulous draftsman, he rendered his subjects (most of the time woman) with a respect for the human body that was based in scientific knowledge as well as artistic passion”. In both the artist’s portraits of woman that create a sense of both loneliness and longing to his erotic rendering of sexual encounters he was able to poignantly depict the seedy side of Paris in the 20s as well as the prevailing sense of spirit that was indicative of France in the 1920s and 1930s