May 19, 2022 - Sale 2605

Sale 2605 - Lot 70

Price Realized: $ 23,750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 25,000 - $ 35,000

ADOLPHE MOURON CASSANDRE (1901-1968)

TRIPLEX. Pencil and gouache maquette. 1930.


26x19 3/4 inches, 66x50 1/4 cm.
Condition A: minor creases in image; minor creases and abrasions at side edges. Pencil and gouache highlights on paper, with collage and stencil elements. Hinged archivally to mount. Framed.

To promote this shatterproof safety glass, Cassandre designed one of his strongest images - a nearly monochromatic poster. Every detail of this stylized driver - his wide eyes fixed on the road ahead and his hands tightly grasping the steering wheel - helps to evoke his complete concentration. The only barrier between the driver and the potential dangers of the road is a rectangle of Triplex glass. This drawing, with text that does not appear in the poster, preceded Cassandre's full-size color maquette for the poster, also dated 1930. (The poster and postcard were printed in 1931). The typography on this drawing differs slightly from the gouache maquette, as does the shading.

Provenance: acquired from Reinhold Brown Gallery, NYC, in the 1980s by the current owner.

Weill 340, Word & Image p. 80, Brown & Reinhold p. 52, Avant Garde p. 161, Reina Sofia p. 175, Suntory 15, Crouse p. 79, Affiches Art Deco p. 15, Plakat Kunst p. 104, Muller-Brockmann 84, The Poster 215, Cassandre / Weill 114, MoMA 273.1935 (all var).