Featured Fashion Illustration with Red Clutch, Signed

I can't make the signature...close, but no cigar.
The paper is 4 x 9 1/2 inches. The lady's elongated form is badly out of proportion; the detail in her face hints that this may be a form of portrait, she having been a real person...with very long lashes! The hairstyle smacks of early 20th C, perhaps 20's...or is she wearing a cap, a cloche? And why is her right hand hidden? It was framed, but rather recently; the glass is float, the frame plain & cheap.

Your comments and suggestions are, as always, welcome treasures. Thanks for lookin'!

 

1930s. The figure is elongated to exaggerate the narrowness of the era's new silhouette. Not a portrait; a fashion illustration. I'm unable to read the signature. Perhaps someone else can.

Debora

 

Last name is Sergeant, Initial could be F or T?

 

Yes, last name does look like Sergeant.

Debora

 

Initial could be J.

 

Very nice!
When I studied fashion illustration we learned that fashion figures were to be drawn 9 heads tall.
And she fits the bill!
It's really lovely! Pencil and gouache on watercolor paper.

 

Took my time, carefully outlined the letters in white, then inverted the signature,but that's not to say I can read the signature either!!!! It could be a 'J' then 'Seri' and I can't read the rest... But I do think it's a lovely fashionable illustration!! (If the end is a 't' it didn't get crossed.....)



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I thought J Sargeant too. Design for an advertisement or a fashion design. Flat-chested, tall and skinny was the fashion ideal of the time. It's an elegant dress you could still wear if you were built like that. (which no one is.)

 

Thank you, all!
Could that first character be an L?

 

I think that is less likely than a J, but there are all sorts of handwriting quirks out there.

 

The first initial could also be an F.

 

That singature looks French to my eye. eaux at the end.

 

Yeah, I was there (French) too...but the last character has too much verticality; I can't make an x out of it.

 

You're a real artist with your amazing enhancements of images, Aquitaine...Thank you for the effort!

 

Most welcome!!