Francis Cugat, also known as Francisco Coradal-CougatNew York Public Library; "Lucille Lortel Papers" (May 24, 1893 – July 13, 1981),U.S.Social Security Records was a painter and graphic designer whose most famous work was Celestial Eyes, the original 1925 dust jacket for The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. From the mid-1940s he was a Technicolor consultant on more than 60 Hollywood films.
Biography
Francis Cugat was born in Barcelona in 1893, an older brother of Xavier Cugat.Article on dust jacket for The Great Gatsby. The Cugat family emigrated to Cuba in 1903. Cugat studied at the academy at Rheims, and then in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He became known as a portrait painter in France, South America, and Cuba before coming to the United States.Theatre Magazine, Volume 27 edited by W. J. Thorold, Arthur Hornblow, Perriton Maxwell, Stewart Beach; 1918 p. 278 (a photo of the artist, as well as illustrations of his work, accompany this highly-informative article).
Between 1915 and 1918, Cugat created distinctive, stylized theatre cards for several opera personalities including Lucien Muratore, Rosa Raisa and Giacomo Rimini.Walter, Patrick, in an illustrated article about Cugat on postcard.com, December 2012 These visually dramatic posters were the result of Cugat's having been discovered by Cleofonte Campannini in Chicago. Cugat came to the general director of the opera asking for the commission to paint poster portraits of the Chicago Opera Association stars. He continued in this endeavor, painting Nellie Melba, as well.Theatre Magazine, Volume 27 edited by W. J. Thorold, Arthur Hornblow, Perriton Maxwell, Stewart Beach; 1918.
Cugat's earliest film work includes Robert Z. Leonard's now-lost 1922 film Fascination, for which he was retained to assure the authenticity of the art direction. "It is one of the rules of theatrical presentation that none of the real-life incongruities of background will be reproduced in a picture", Leonard said. "So we have sought to make each bit of furniture, each painting on the walls, all of the household utensils, all of the café settings, and so on, thoroughly 'Spanish'. And Señor Cugat is authority for the fact that we have succeeded." He designed sets for the Douglas Fairbanks motion pictures Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925) and The Gaucho (1927).
In the early 1920s Cugat continued his artistic career in New York City. Cugat moved to Hollywood in 1925.Lucille Lortel: The Queen of Off Broadway By Alexis Greene; p. 43. For many years, Cugat was a designer in Hollywood for Douglas Fairbanks and had a 1942 show in New York, well after his famous work for The Great Gatsby. He was credited for technical work on 68 Hollywood films.Walker, Patrick
On November 28, 1922, in New York City, Cugat was married to the painter Ruth Wadler (b. New York), the sister of Lucille Lortel, founder of the White Barn Theatre.American Women Modernists: The Legacy of Robert Henri, 1910–1945 By Marian Wardle, Sarah Burns; p. 191.Lucille Lortel: The Queen of Off Broadway By Alexis Greene; p.32. He died in Westport, Connecticut, on July 13, 1981, aged 88.Lucille Lortel: The Queen of Off Broadway By Alexis Greene; p. 253.
Known work
Murtore, Raisa and Rimini Theatre Cards – 1915–1917 Untitled illustration of woman with candle and dandy, n.d., circa 1915–1917David Chase Gallery, item number 529, offered in June 2012. Celestial Eyes – A painting for the cover of the 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. "George Gershwin" (An American in Paris) – c. 1928, Etching.Offered by Keithsheridan.com in June 2012. Technicolor Color Associate Director for the Frank Borzage/Philip Dorn 1946 film I’ve Always Loved You Technicolor Color Consultant for the John Ford/John Wayne 1952 film The Quiet Man Technicolor Color Consultant for the 1955 film Three for the Show French Quarter, New Orleans, landscape painting, n.d.artvalue.com The Stranger, Western film 1953 Bridgetoan Harbor, Barbados, landscape painting, n.d.Reproduced on liveauctioneers.com in June 2012. Moonlight c. 1926, oil painting, current location unknown.
References
External links Francis Cugat, l'altre Cugat
Francis Cugat at the British Film Institute