Edward Henry Molyneux (British, 1891-1974) Oil Painting on Canvas Evening Harbor at Dusk, 1938

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Edward Henry Molyneux (British, 1891-1974) oil painting on canvas "Evening Harbor at Dusk", 1938.
Measures 9-1/2" x 13" canvas; x … Read more Edward Henry Molyneux (British, 1891-1974) oil painting on canvas "Evening Harbor at Dusk", 1938.
Measures 9-1/2" x 13" canvas; x 13 3/8" x 16 3/4" framed. Signed and dated lower right: Molyneux 38.

Molyneux was a leading British fashion designer whose salon in Paris operated from 1919 until 1950. He is characterised as a modernist designer who played with the refinements of couture style, a modernist aesthetic, and the desire to be socially and culturally advanced.

Molyneux was, as historian Caroline Milbank wrote, "the designer to whom a fashionable woman would turn if she wanted to be absolutely right without being utterly predictable in the Twenties and Thirties". Frowning on superfluous decoration, he regularly dressed European royals, including Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent. He was also a favorite with trendsetting actresses including Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Gertrude Lawrence, Margaret Leighton and Vivien Leigh. Protegés included future couturiers Christian Dior and Pierre Balmain, and he was friends with playwright Noël Coward.

Molyneux had a complicated personal life. One of his early relationships was with Foreign Office diplomat Harold Nicolson, who helped finance the opening of the designer's first Paris salon. Although married to writer Vita Sackville-West, Nicolson was open with her about his affairs, including his fling with Molyneux. See less