A. M. CASSANDRE (1901-1968) SAGA / ALGERIE TUNISIE MAROC. 1927. 43x28 3/4 inches. Hachard, Paris. Condition B / B+: expert overpainting in bottom margin, affecting text; repaired tears in margins and image. Saga is the first ship poster Cassandre designed. The company specialized in sending freight to Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, which belonged to the French Colonial Empire in 1927. Cassandre cleverly uses the black hull of a moored ship as background to make a brightly colored packing crate stand out even more vibrantly. The crate itself is subject to the standard, though excellent, tricks of perspective which were among Cassandre's visual calling cards. The sides of the crate fade diagonally, creating an almost 3-dimensional impression. The overall treatment is geometric, although the artist hasn't yet achieved the purity of the more classic steamship images still to come. Mouron / Cassandre pl. 8, Suntory 68, p. 92.
