?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
ALO (CHARLES HALLO, 1882-1969)
SUMMER ON THE FRENCH RIVIERA / BY THE BLUE TRAIN. Circa 1928.
39x25 1/4 inches, 99x64 1/4 cm. L. Serre & Cie., Paris. Condition A: minor creases in margins.
At the turn-of-the-century, the Côte d'Azur was primarily a winter destination. After the First World War, when tourism began to pick up again around Europe, new promoters began to tout it as a summer destination as well. The Train Bleu "was the first train to be entirely made of all-steel cars. The 'Blue Train' [so-called because of its dark blue sleeping cars] was very popular and a great success all at once" (Wagons Lits, p. 290). Very few of Alo's posters depict people, yet here he wonderfully illustrates a populated beach in an Art Deco style worthy of Roger Broders. It is also his only poster to depict a train (seen here on the Anthéor Viaduct). The logo in the top left corner is C.I.W.L., which stands for Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. Alo 131, Wagons-Lits 161, Train 131, Azur 9.
