"René Gruau was born in Italy in 1909 of an aristocratic Italian father and a French mother, Marie Gruau, whose name he later took. He settled in Paris in 1924 and embarked on his career as a fashion illustrator.

In the 1940‘s and 50‘s Gruau became a favorite of the haute couture world, working with Femina, Marie-Claire, L’Officiel, L’Album Du Figaro and other “high-style” magazines. Some of Gruau’s best work can be seen in the dramatic visual statements he rendered for Christian Dior, Balenciaga, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Hubert de Givenchy. In 1948 Rene Gruau left for the United States to work for Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, before becoming the exclusive artist for FLAIR.

He produced stunningly beautiful posters for the LIDO, MOULIN ROUGE and BEMBERG, almost right up until his death at the age of 95." (Rene' Gruau by Daisy Love, KingDesignHistory2012)