Maurice Charles Louis Hippolyte Taquoy, born in Mareuil-sur-Ay in the Marne region of France in 1878, was an artist known for his horse racing and hunt illustrations.
Taquoy studied painting at the Académie Julian in Paris, all the while becoming an accomplished horseman with a deep love of the countryside. Taquoy had a very diverse artistic career, covering many disciplines. His friend, the artist Bernard Boutet de Monvel, taught him the technique of colour engraving, and shared an exhibition with him in 1909. This technique enabled him to produce luminous and beautiful prints of his favourite subjects, horse racing and hunting, and Paris society and fashion.
He began working as an illustrator in 1910 for the magazine ‘Vie Parisienne’ and the prestigious fashion magazine ‘Gazette de Bon Ton’.
Taquoy exhibited his paintings throughout his career at the ‘Salon de Automne’, ‘Salon des Indépendants’, and the ‘Société Nationale des Beaux Arts’. He also had many successful exhibitions in Paris, achieving great critical acclaim by his second one man exhibition at the ‘Galerie Manzi’ in 1913. He was also commissioned to design luxury merchandise for Hermès, including saddles, dresses, scarves and trunks. He continued to create illustrations for Hermès well into the 1920s.
On the outbreak of the First World War, Taquoy was commissioned as a war artist. During that time, he recorded the French Army in the Marne and Champagne regions, scenes which are today preserved in the Musée des Invalides in Paris.
After the war he continued to exhibit at many galleries in Paris with great success. He was hired by Monsieur at the start of the 1920s, a short lived sophisticated magazine devoted to men's fashion, illustrating their covers throughout the decade.
In July 1931 he also produced a collection of gouache racing scenes at Newmarket Races. Later on, during the Second World War, he painted a series of illustrations of daily life in Paris under the German Occupation.
In 1949 he exhibited a collection of twenty works exclusively devoted to horse racing. This was to be his last exhibition and he died in 1952. Hermès released his final scarf design 'Chantilly' in the same year.
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