# Louis Icart artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/louis-icart/
Profile generated: 2026-04-28T23:53:00.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1888-12-09
- Nationality: French
- Movements: Art Deco
- Common media: etching with aquatint, drypoint, oil painting, watercolor, pastel

## About Louis Icart

Louis Justin Laurent Icart (1888–1950) was a French painter, etcher, illustrator, and graphic artist best known for his elegant depictions of women rendered in the Art Deco style. Born in Toulouse, he trained as a draftsman and printmaker, developing a distinctive combination of etching, aquatint, and drypoint that defined his most recognizable work. Active in Paris throughout the early twentieth century, Icart produced a prolific body of fashion illustrations, figural etchings, and decorative prints that captured the glamour and modernity of interwar French culture. He also worked in oil, watercolor, and pastel. Icart is listed in major reference works including Bénézit, Vollmer, and the Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon. His prints remain among the most frequently traded works in the twentieth-century decorative print market.

## Common works and media

The most frequently encountered Icart works at auction are etchings with aquatint and drypoint on paper, often depicting elegantly posed women in fashionable or romantic settings. Many were issued as numbered editions with pencil signatures. Icart also produced oil paintings, watercolors, pastels, and fashion illustrations. Subjects range from seated and reclining female figures to decorative still lifes and animal compositions. Editioned prints form the bulk of the auction market for this artist.

## Market and appraisal context

Louis Icart is one of the most liquid 20th-century French print artists at auction. The Appraisily auction record index tracks 2,617 lots dating from October 2004 through April 2026, with 1,784 carrying a realized price. The price distribution is heavily right-skewed: the 25th percentile is $190, the median is $350, and the 75th percentile is $700, while the recorded maximum reaches $1,100,000. This dispersion reflects the broad range of media, editions, conditions, and subject importance within the Icart oeuvre. Auction volume remains substantial, with 347 priced lots in the trailing 12 months against 450 in the prior period—a modest year-over-year decline that still signals strong, ongoing market liquidity. Works cross the block primarily at mid-tier and regional auction houses including Heritage Auctions, DuMouchelles, Fontaine's Auction Gallery, John Moran Auctioneers, Il Ponte Auction House (Milan), Abell Auction, and Hill Auction Gallery, as well as specialist and online-only platforms such as The Rug Life Auctions, Chamberlain Auction Gallery, Bruce Teleky Inc., and Treasureseeker Auctions LLC. The majority of lots are color etchings with aquatint and drypoint depicting elegant female figures; hand-signed lifetime impressions in good condition with documented edition numbers command a premium over unsigned or posthumous restrikes.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

Louis Icart is one of the most liquid 20th-century French print artists at auction. The Appraisily auction record index tracks 2,617 lots dating from October 2004 through April 2026, with 1,784 carrying a realized price. The price distribution is heavily right-skewed: the 25th percentile is $190, the median is $350, and the 75th percentile is $700, while the recorded maximum reaches $1,100,000. This dispersion reflects the broad range of media, editions, conditions, and subject importance within the Icart oeuvre. Auction volume remains substantial, with 347 priced lots in the trailing 12 months against 450 in the prior period—a modest year-over-year decline that still signals strong, ongoing market liquidity. Works cross the block primarily at mid-tier and regional auction houses including Heritage Auctions, DuMouchelles, Fontaine's Auction Gallery, John Moran Auctioneers, Il Ponte Auction House (Milan), Abell Auction, and Hill Auction Gallery, as well as specialist and online-only platforms such as The Rug Life Auctions, Chamberlain Auction Gallery, Bruce Teleky Inc., and Treasureseeker Auctions LLC. The majority of lots are color etchings with aquatint and drypoint depicting elegant female figures; hand-signed lifetime impressions in good condition with documented edition numbers command a premium over unsigned or posthumous restrikes.

### Appraisal notes

An Appraisily appraisal for a Louis Icart work would begin by confirming medium (etching with aquatint, drypoint, oil, watercolor, or pastel), dimensions, paper or support type, and the presence and form of the artist's signature (pencil signature, plate signature, or stamp). Edition numbering, publisher or printer inscriptions, and any certificates of authenticity would be documented. Condition—foxing, toning, tears, fading, hinge marks, and frame condition—strongly affects value given the print-based nature of the majority of the market. The appraiser would then identify comparable lots from the 2,617-record auction dataset, filtering by medium, title/subject, edition status, date of execution, and sale venue to bracket a defensible value range. For oil paintings, watercolors, or pastels—which represent a smaller share of the market but can achieve materially higher prices—the comparable set would be narrower and confidence intervals wider. Attribution risk is material: restrikes, reproductions, and works 'in the manner of' Icart are common and must be distinguished from lifetime impressions before valuation.

### Valuation factors

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### Collector notes

- The Icart print market is deep and liquid: median auction results hover around $350 USD, with the interquartile range spanning roughly $190–$700, making entry accessible but ceiling meaningful for exceptional works.
- Year-over-year auction volume (347 lots in the trailing 12 months vs. 450 in the prior period) indicates sustained but slightly softening demand; monitor for continued trends.
- Focus on lifetime, hand-signed, numbered impressions with good paper condition and full margins. Avoid unsigned or loosely attributed works without provenance unless purchasing at a deep discount.
- Common titles appear frequently at auction (e.g., 'Intimacy,' 'Smoke,' 'Black Fan,' 'Sleeping Beauty,' 'Coursing II'), providing a rich comparable set for valuation.
- Be cautious of reproductions and restrikes, which are widely circulated and can be difficult to distinguish from original editions without expert examination.
- Oil paintings, watercolors, and pastels by Icart appear less frequently and may represent both a valuation opportunity and a higher-comparables risk due to thinner data.

### Market caveats

- The $1,100,000 maximum recorded price is an extreme outlier; the vast majority of Icart lots trade well below $1,000. Do not use the maximum as a reference point for typical works.
- Several recent lot listings contain a typographic birth year of 1988 instead of 1888, indicating data-entry variation in auction cataloging; verify artist identity against authority records.
- Some lots list 'lithograph' as the medium for works traditionally catalogued as etchings with aquatint, suggesting possible misclassification or mixed-media cataloging that should be clarified before appraisal.
- Auction volume declined approximately 23% year-over-year (450 to 347 lots); a single-year dip does not confirm a trend but warrants monitoring.
- The Appraisily auction-record dataset covers 2,617 lots across multiple currencies (USD and EUR observed in recent lots); cross-currency comparisons should account for exchange-rate timing.
- Restrikes, reproductions, and prints 'after' Icart are common in the secondary market; attribution verification is essential before relying on any comparable.

### Market evidence sources

- undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/louis-icart/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-louis-icart-1888-1950-french-6-c-cfa9ad93f7
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-louis-icart-the-chestnut-merchant-hand-signed-color-aquatint-173-c-a9b1a62681
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-louis-icart-french-1888-1950-hand-colored-etchings-131-c-8e4dde5533
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-louis-icart-1888-1950-black-fan-1931-2330-c-24d1f0048c
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-louis-icart-1988-1950-lithograph-titled-clipped-wings-23in-x-28in-58cm-x-71cm-386-c-33c5af53fb
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-louis-icart-1988-1950-hand-signed-hand-colored-intaglio-print-titled-destin-de-femme-14-75in-x18in-37cm-x-46cm-37-c-71e765ad43
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-louis-icart-1988-1950-hand-signed-original-etching-drypoint-and-aquatint-titled-black-fan-with-coa-28-5in-x-34-5in-72cm-x-88cm-14-c-ffd57df334
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-louis-icart-1888-1950-intimacy-1928-signed-etching-drypoint-and-aquatint-in-colors-on-paper-391-c-b6d7d5f9f7

## Appraisily data basis

This artist page combines identity research drawn from library authority files and encyclopedic references with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. Biographical data is grounded in the RKD Netherlands Institute, VIAF, and the Library of Congress authority file.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8342047
- VIAF / OCLC: https://viaf.org/viaf/66563095/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n83043434
- RKD: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/40888
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Icart