Portrait of a Chihuahua
Gaston Noury (French b. 1866-1936)
Oil on board, signed l.r
8-1/2 x 7-1/4 inches (12 x 13-3/4 w/frame)
Gaston Noury (French, 1866-1936) was a painter, poster artist, illustrator, cartoonist and theatrical costume designer. He worked in Le Havre Paris, where he settled around 1889. His prolific output covered a wide variety of subjects and his images were used for posters, books, postcards, songbooks, genre scenes and fashion plates. He provided illustrations for magazines such as La Chronique parisienne, Saint-Nicolas, Gil Blas illustré, Journal Amusant (1889-1890), and Les Hommes d'aujourd'hui. Noury’s grandfather was founder and director of the local museum in Le Havre, where he grew up.

Noury designed costumes for the Moulin Rouge and Ambassadeurs in the Monmartre district. Most of these costume drawings are dated 1910. The costumes are both childishly innocent and provocative - floral designs and fabrics with seductive cutouts showing legs, midriff, cleavage and sometimes bare breasts. The drawings combine pencil and watercolor washes, portraying young women with stylized faces and delicate hands and feet.
 
Ex. Collection: Burn Hall Manor, County Durham, England