May 07, 2007 - Sale 2113

Sale 2113 - Lot 140

Price Realized: $ 5,040
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
A. M. CASSANDRE (1901-1968) CELTIQUES. 1934.
59x38 3/4 inches. Bedos, Paris.
Condition A-: minor repaired tears in margins.
At first glance this poster looks like a product of the Swiss New Realism. It is, in fact, more sophisticated than it appears. The pack of cigarettes, which is hyper-realistic in its rendering, is tilted upwards, floating above a simple wooden table, casting a generous black shadow. It seems as if the pack has been lifted off the table by an invisible hand, which is offering the cigarette to the viewer. It is this kind of sophisticated idea and execution that makes Cassandre's work unique. This image exists in various different formats. Mouron pl. 48, Biblioteheque Nationale / Cassandre p. 100, Reinhold & Brown 45.