Costume Design, Musical, Gaston Noury, Moulin Rouge, Antique Watercolors, French, c. 1909-1910

Gaston Noury was a prominent French painter, poster artist, illustrator, and theatrical costume designer whose work defined the vibrant, provocative visual culture of Belle Époque Paris. Prolifically active across both Normandie and Paris, Noury achieved commercial and artistic success by crafting avant-garde advertisements and whimsical costume maquettes for iconic Montmartre entertainment hubs. His costume designs bridge the gap between delicate Art Nouveau aestheticism and the risqué, playful theatricality demanded by Parisian cabarets.

 Noury was born in Elbeuf, Normandy. His grandfather was the founder and curator of the local art museum, exposing Noury to master painters early in life. Legendary Impressionists—including Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, and Edgar Degas—were frequent visitors to the Noury family household. Around 1889, Noury relocated to Paris to immerse himself in the Montmartre avant-garde scene. He established himself as a versatile illustrator for popular satire and art magazines, including La Chronique parisienne, Gil Blas illustré, and Journal amusant. He also excelled as an Art Nouveau posterist, designing commercial lithographs for bicycle manufacturers, theatrical productions, and festivals. His distinct, stylized depiction of the Parisian woman caught the attention of cabaret executives. He was contracted to design grand revue costumes for premier music halls, securing a steady income and solidifying his legacy in theatrical design history. Noury spent his later years working between Paris and Le Havre, where he died in 1936.

Noury’s theatrical costume designs as executed around 1910, served as blueprint masterworks for the stage. They captured a distinct dual identity: blending childhood innocence with overt provocation. Noury typically executed his costume maquettes on paper using a combination of pencil underdrawing and translucent watercolor washes. The graphite lines provided precise anatomical and textile boundaries, while fluid watercolor layers captured the movement, sheen, and transparency of stage fabrics under incandescent lights. The figures in Noury’s designs are highly stylized, displaying elongated limbs, delicate hands, small feet, and simplified, elegant facial features characteristic of late Art Nouveau illustration. Rather than static clothing templates, the subjects are rendered in active, expressive dance poses, allowing directors and dressmakers to see how the textiles behaved in motion.

Noury’s designs achieved theatrical success through their thematic contrasts.  Designs exhibiting an avant-garde expression aesthetic approach were characterized by whimsical floral patterns, botanical garlands, and innocent organic shapes. They included structured corsetry, oversized decorative hats, and fluid, trailing capes. Designs exhibiting a cabaret provocation aesthetic approach were characterized by seductive, strategic fabric cutouts revealing bare skin, including high-slit skirts exposing the legs, and plunge lines exposing midriffs and cleavage. His costume production was tailor-made for the nightlife economy of the Montmartre district. His core clientele consisted of Paris’s most famous entertainment centers. The Moulin Rouge was famous for the high-kicking French Can-can, requiring skirts that were visually spectacular yet functional for athletic dancers. Les Ambassadeurs was an upscale café-concert venue where costumes required a higher degree of high-fashion sophistication mixed with performance glamour. His designs were central to the storytelling of these musical revues. By using exaggerated proportions and bright color palettes, Noury ensured that the performers remained visually striking from the back rows of crowded, smoke-filled theater halls.

Titles and Inscriptions:

Bouquet…Moulin Rouge 1910
Signed lower right; inscribed verso “bouquet de [?] M. Rouge 1910”

Fleurs, Moulin Rouge 1910
Unsigned, inscribed verso “Moulin Rouge 1910 Fleurs”

Les Sincères, Moulin Rouge 1910 [The Sincere Ones]
Signed lower right; mumbered lower right “11” and inscribed “feuilles de Fougère et oeillets fleuristes” [fern fronds and florist’s carnations]; inscribed verso “les sincères Moulin Rouge 1910” and dated 1910.

…Caoutchouc, Ambassadeurs 1910 [Costume Trimmed with Rubber Tree Leaves]
Signed lower right; inscribed verso “Ambassadeurs 1910. [?] du Caoutchouc”

Pavillon de Flore, Ambassadeurs 1910 [Pavillion of Flora]

Lilas Blanc 1909 [White Lilac]
Signed lower right; inscribed verso “Lilas Blanc 1909…Soie clair à traine” [White Lilac 1909…Lightweight silk train]

[Harem-Style Costume with Turban, Jewels and Boa]
Signed lower right

[Fencing Costume]
Signed lower right and numbered “20

Condition: Generally very good with the usual overall light toning, fading, wear, soiling, soft creases, marks, smudges. Some with linen tape or linen tape residue in the side margin, can be matted out. Some with minor indentations or hard creases. Some with masking tape hinge backside, top margin, apparently stable. Some signatures fairly faded. All condition issues typical for working costume designs.

References:

Bénézit, E. Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs. France: Librairie Gründ, 1966. Vol. 6, p. 389.

“Biographies of the Postcard Artists.” Vintage Postcards.com. http://www.vintagepostcards.com/postcardartistsbiographies.htm (11 August 2006).

Gemini, Google, May 13, 2026, https://gemini.google.com/

“Les Collections.” Musée Christian Dior. 2005. http://museechristiandior.perso.orange.fr/collections-musee-dior6.html (11 August 2006).