Nov 11, 2002 - Sale 1951

Sale 1951 - Lot 41

Price Realized: $ 5,060
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
ADOLPHE MOURON CASSANDRE ITALIA-COSULICH. 1936.
37 1/2x24 1/2 inches. Italian Line.
Condition B+: discoloration and minor restoration along vertical and horizontal folds; tear in left margin.
Of all the different kinds of posters Cassandre designed, ocean travel was "a theme the artist delighted in, constantly renewing himself, constantly varying not only his point of view and angle but also his style" (Mouron p. 64). Indeed, compared to his monolithic work for the Normandie and L'Atlantique, his close-up views of the Statendam's and S. S. Cote d'Azur's funnels, and his "diagramatic" image for SAGA, here "Cassandre renewed his vision yet again...dramatically reducing the size of the three ships setting out to conquer a watery globe" (Mouron p. 67). On this poster (and the next lot) the artist only signs his initials, using a monogram instead of his signature to protect his identity from the Mussolini regime who had banned French artists from working on Italian commissions. Variants also appear printed in French and German. Mouron 100 (var).