Joseph Kuhn-Régnierartist • printmaker1873-1940

French illustrator and draughtsman Joseph Kuhn-Régnier was taught by the Orientalist Fernand Cormon at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris. The influence of the sensually charged themes in his teacher's paintings is reflected in Kuhn-Régnier's Art Deco-style illustrative work, with the difference that his characters were inspired by classical Greek art. He drew scenes from daily life, as well as historical and mythological subjects for books and magazines about antiquity. He became best known for his color illustrations for the four-volume edition of the Works of Hippocrates, published by Javal & Bourdeaux in Paris in 1932. For a large part of his career (1900–1938), Kuhn-Régnier was associated with the magazine La Vie Parisienne, a French illustrated cultural magazine featuring full-page color illustrations by prominent artists of the time, which also included erotic illustrations after 1905. In addition, around 1930, he also illustrated the four-volume series Songs of Bilitus with erotic poems and fables by Pierre Louÿs for Simon Kra's Byblis collection.