23½x16 inches, 59½x40½ cm. Delachy & Cie., Paris. Condition B+: repaired tear, restored losses and slight overpainting along horizontal fold; minor creases and abrasions in margins and image. Matted and framed.
Advertising medicine to fight anemia, Willette depicts a case study of the effect the illness can have. It is "a poster with social connotations, along the lines of Zola's epic realism. Dimly lit by an oil lamp, a miserable garret room opens out onto a vista [of Paris], touches of color brighten up the darkness, with flowers, pets - symbols of life and human feeling. The pallid glow from the oil lamp distinguishes two key elements: the sewing machine, the tool of work and of alienation, and the young worker, who, exhausted by the previous night's work, has dropped her scissors" (Health p. 82). Willette rarely designed full color posters, most of his work is monochromatic. The image was also printed as a supplement for the March 6, 1898 Le Courrier Francais, which issued full color reproductions of famous posters of the era in smaller formats. This is the smaller format.
