An Inventory of His Binding Design Albums in the Art Collection at the
Harry Ransom Center
Creator:
Legrain, Pierre, 1889-1929
Title:
Pierre Legrain Binding Design Albums
Dates:
1918-1929
Extent:
2 albums (164 items)
Abstract:
These two albums contain Pierre
Legrain’s original binding designs composed in various media, often accompanied
by
his handwritten instructions and photographs of the finished bookbindings.
Call Number:
Art Collection AR-00329
Language:
French
Access:
Open for research. A minimum of twenty-four hours is required to pull art materials
to the Reading Room.
Pierre Émile Legrain was born October 2, 1889, at Levallois-Perret,
Hauts-de-Seine, in the outskirts of Paris. He attended the Ecole des Arts
Appliqués Germain Pilon.
In 1908 Legrain joined the studio of the designer Paul Iribe (1883-1935), with whom
he collaborated in 1912 on the apartment of the celebrated fashion designer and
art
patron Jacques Doucet. In 1916 Doucet proposed that Legrain, who had no experience
as a book binder, provide designs for bindings for Doucet’s collection of books
and
manuscripts. Legrain set up in Doucet’s dining room and between 1917 and 1919
designed around 370 bindings, most of which were executed by René Kieffer,
but also by Canape, Noulhac, and Germaine Schroeder. After the completion of these
bindings, Legrain continued to provide Doucet with designs for furniture and other
objects.
Legrain exhibited his bindings at the Société des Artistes
Décorateurs in 1919. In 1922 his work started to attract much attention
when articles about his bindings appeared in magazines, subsequently increasing
demand for his bindings. He was thus able to establish his own studio, and no
longer
had to send his designs out to the bookbinders’ establishments. He could also
now
choose among his clients and books, and he had commissions from the leading
collectors of modern books.
Most of Legrain’s best work was created between 1925 and his death in 1929. He had
developed a complete understanding of binding technique, and he came to prefer
to
work with bindings, although there was still great demand for his decorating work.
His binding designs moved away from geometric styles to more complicated and often
asymmetrical compositions; a wide range of materials were used in his bindings.
The
Legrain bindings exhibited at the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs
et
industriels modernes of 1925 sealed his reputation as the leading designer of
French
bindings.
Legrain died in Paris on July 17, 1929.
Sources:
Corbin, Donna. "Legrain, Pierre(-Emile)."Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press, 2006,
http://www.groveart.com/ (accessed 6 November 2006).
Ray, Gordon N. "The Art Deco Book in France."Studies in Bibliography 55 (2002): 20-131. Project
Muse. John Hopkins University Press,
http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/studies_in_bibliography/v055/55.1ray02.html (accessed
6
November 2006).
Scope and Contents
The Ransom Center Art Collection has two albums of Pierre Legrain’s original binding
designs, 1918-1929. These layout designs are composed of various media: gouache,
pencil, ink, correction white, and a few collage elements. Legrain’s handwritten
instructions are on most of the designs. Thirty black and white photographs of
finished bookbindings are mounted next to corresponding designs. The albums are
bound in cloth with a Legrain design of overlapping circles, with "[Henri] Mercher" stamped on the front turn in.
The designs are numbered consecutively within the albums, but appear in the following
Index sorted by author and title of the book. For those designs with corresponding
bindings identified in Pierre Legrain, relieur
(1965), the citation numbers are included.
Related Material
The Ransom Center’s Library has seventeen books in original bindings by Legrain; the
designs for three of these books (Pierre Legrain,
relieur numbers 4, 416, and 618) are included in the Art Collection’s
Legrain volumes.
