Pierre-Laurent Brenot was a French painter who also had a great activity in fashion and advertising. He is also known as the father of the "French pin-up".

Biography

Raymond (Pierre-Laurent) Brenot was born on 8 July 1913 at the 44th of rue de Vanves, in the 14th district of Paris.

In 1928, he entered the Ecole Estienne

École Estienne

L’école Estienne is the traditional name of the Graduate School of Arts and Printing Industry. It is located at 18, Boulevard Auguste-Blanqui in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, not far from the Butte-aux-Cailles.-History:...

 (School of the Book), which he attended for three years.

In 1932, he studied with the French designer Fernand Hertenberger. Brenot's power of observation and accuracy of pen stroke are very soon noticed.

During the "Years of Fashion" (from 1936 to 1950), thanks to his daring and his talent, he was hired by Mr. Chatard, a great dress-maker for men and women, within the store "Fashionable" based at the 16th of the Boulevard Montmartre. Brenot then created a line of men's suits. Moving forward, he made many fashion drawings for other great designers and milliners (Christian Dior

Christian Dior

Christian Dior , was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, also called Christian Dior.-Life:...

, Jacques Fath

Jacques Fath

Jacques Fath was a French fashion designer who was considered one of the three dominant influences on postwar haute couture, the others being Christian Dior and Pierre Balmain.-Career:The son of André Fath, an Alsatian-Flemish insurance agent, Fath came from a creative family...

, Cristóbal Balenciaga

Cristóbal Balenciaga

Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre was a Spanish Basque fashion designer and the founder of the Balenciaga fashion house....

, Nina Ricci

Nina Ricci (designer)

Maria Nina Ricci was a French fashion designer of Italian origin.-Life and work:Maria Nielli was born in Turin, Italy in 1883, she moved to Florence, Italy with her family at age 5 and then to France in 1895 at age 12. She was nicknamed Nina. At the age of 13, she began an apprenticeship at a...

, Jeanne Lafaurie, Charles Montaigne ...) as well as for Lanvin

Lanvin (clothing)

Lanvin is a high fashion house founded by Jeanne Lanvin.-History:Lanvin made such beautiful clothes for her daughter that they began to attract the attention of a number of wealthy people who requested copies for their own children...

 and Rochas

Rochas

Rochas is a fashion, beauty, and perfume house founded in 1925 by french designer Marcel Rochas, born in 1902 and died in 1955, first designer of 2/3-length coats and skirts with pockets...

 brands.

He soon began to draw portraits, including those of Arletty

Arletty

Arletty was a French actress, singer, and fashion model.-Life and career:Arletty was born Léonie Marie Julie Bathiat in Courbevoie , to a working-class family. Her early career was dominated by the music hall, and she later appeared in plays and cabaret. Arletty was a stage performer for ten years...

, Francoise Fabian

Françoise Fabian

Françoise Fabian is a French film actress. She has appeared in over 80 films since 1956.She was born in Algiers, Algeria, and is the widow of screenwriter and director Jacques Becker and actor Marcel Bozzuffi. One of her best-known roles is as Maud in Eric Rohmer's My Night at Maud's...

, Boris Vian

Boris Vian

Boris Vian was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer. He is best remembered today for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan were bizarre parodies of criminal fiction, highly controversial at the time of their...

 and Jean-Claude Brialy

Jean-Claude Brialy

Jean-Claude Brialy – died 30 May 2007, Monthyon, Seine-et-Marne, France was a French actor, director, and socialite.-Biography:...

.

From 1944 onwards, he started a career as a poster artist and illustrator. However, with the rise of photography in the sixties, this activity shrank badly. Pierre-Laurent Brenot then moved backward to his original painter vocation.

Pierre-Laurent Brenot died on , in his estate in Loches

Loches

Loches is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.It is situated southeast of Tours by railway, on the left bank of the Indre River.-History:...

.