Ludwig Kainer (1885-1967) - Socialite Evening

Ludwig Kainer (1885-1967)
Socialite Evening  in the 1920s
Pencil, watercolor
30 x 22.5 cm
Provenance:
Kainer studio collection

German of Jewish origin, Ludwig Kainer was initially destined for medicine. Came to Paris to study at the Institut Pasteur, he fell in love with Cézanne, Matisse and Renoir and began a self-taught career as a graphic designer and illustrator. From before 1914, he followed the Russian ballets to which he devoted a set of lithographs. He collaborated with magazines like Witness, Styl or Simplicissimus, and in the 1920s became one of the great fashion designers in Germany. The woman of the world or the demi-monde, whom he observes in theatres, dance halls, cabarets or boudoirs, is his favorite subject: "Er ist einer der scharmantesten Zeichner der Welt und Halbweltdame, die Deutschland augenblicklich hat" (Thieme and Becker). At the same time, Kainer, hired in the 1910s by Oskar Messters productions, established himself as a very great creator of sets and costumes for the cinema. Like Erté, he is also a clever designer of costumes for the ballet or the music hall. In 1933, the artist had to flee Germany to settle in Switzerland, then in Paris. He is buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery.