?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
ALO (CHARLES HALLO, 1882-1969)
SUMMER ON THE FRENCH RIVIERA / BY THE BLUE TRAIN. 1922.
38 1/4x24 1/4 inches, 97x61 1/2 cm. [Lucien Serre, Paris.] Condition B+: repaired tear in upper left corner; black overpainting at bottom margin; margins trimmed.
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. The logo in the top left corner is C.I.W.L., which stands for Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. Wagons-Lits 161, Train 131, Azur 9.
