L’esprit français — French Interwar Advertising Posters

The phenomenon of French pictorial poster art which, in the late 19th century, had so decisively altered the visual appearance of streets of modern cities, saw a new flourishing in the period of rapid economic growth after World War I. Strong tradition, founded on the masterful illustration skills of French advertisement artists and the superb craftsmanship of lithographers and well-established printing houses, ensured that the poster medium could respond to the precipitous demands of the advertising industry and successfully challenge competition from the new media, thus enhancing the potential of media publicity in the 1920s.

French poster art of the period between the two World Wars is represented by a diversity of approaches and a considerable variety of styles, however their characteristic features are visual appeal, bold painterly rendition, striking colour schemes, a sense of grandeur, hyperbole and humour. Particularly renowned for all these traits were the creations of such figures as Jean d’Ylen, Leonetto Cappiello, Jules Isnard Dransy, Cassandre, Gus Bofa, Benjamin Rabier, Paul Colin, and others. Works by French poster artists were well known also in Czechoslovakia of those times when they were frequently exhibited, which is how the unique collection of large-sized prints from the Vercasson printing house in Paris found its way to the holdings of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague in 1923, which will now be shown to the public in a representative overview for the first time in more than one hundred years.

The exhibition will also offer a selection of works of some thirty most accomplished artists through close to one hundred posters that include highly-praised modernist prints and examples of the most popular advertisements, such as those for the Laughing Cow (La vache qui rit) cheeses and the Nicolas wine distributor.

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