Pierre Mourgue

Pierre Mourgue must have been born in France just before the turn of the century, perhaps around 1890. He contributed quite often to the Gazette du Bon Ton, the premier Paris fashion magazine.

When Conde Naste bought up the Gazette du Bon Ton, the Paris magazine, in 1920, he brought on board Vogue all the illustrators who had contributed to the Gazette. Pierre Mourgue, a young associate of the Gazette group, was one who made the trip to New York and was soon being used with an increasing frequency, bringing to the American edition an unmistakable Parisian wit and flair.

Mourgue was closest in feeling to Brissaud, sharing Brissaud's lively eye for a pretty girl, the swing of her hip, the swirl of her skirt, and her turn of foot. Close, affectionate observation of life is Mourgue's chief characteristic. He imparted a sense of fun, and the spirit of the work was forceful, the colour solid and emphatic.

Mourgue as much as any of Nast's artists, stands for the continuing vitality, nor merely of illustration in every point in his career, but images that still read as among the most emphatically characteristic of their time. Mourgue was nothing if not up to date.

Pierre Mourgue was one of the 8 French artists stationed in Paris, on Vogue's accredited list in 1923. He contributed consummately stylish, memorable and effective drawings. In 1933 when Vogue again showed its artists, Mourgue was again in the line-up.