Feb 18, 2021 - Sale 2558

Sale 2558 - Lot 130

Price Realized: $ 1,125
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,000

ADOLPHE MOURON CASSANDRE (1901-1968)

BONAL. 1933.


61 1/4x46 inches, 155 1/2x116 3/4 cm. Alliance Graphique, Paris.
Condition A- / B+: minor restoration along creases and abrasions at edges and in image; slight time-staining at edges.

One has to imagine that following the success of his brand mascot for Dubonnet, in 1932, Cassandre was emboldened to try another figure filling himself with spirits for his next liqueur commission. As the motto for Bonal touts it as a cordial that "opens your appetite," Cassandre depicts it, quite literally, as a key. The spirit itself appears as a stream of stars infusing the body. Alain Weill explains that the background, "never seen before, almost kinetic, shows that Cassandre was certainly interested in the study of retinal sensations" (Cassandre / Weill p. 126). The poster and image were so popular that they were reused in 1935, virtually identical except for a different color background. Mouron p. 54, Cassandre / Suntory p. 177, Cassandre / Weill 117.