BLAISE BRON (1918-?) MOBILOIL. 1952. 50 1/4x35 1/2 inches, 127 1/2x90 cm. Condition A / A-: minor repaired tears and restoration in margins and image. It is impossible to look at this image without seeing a resemblance to Roy Lichtenstein's early graphic work. However, this poster precedes Lichtenstein's first Pop Art creations by nearly ten years. What gives one pause to call this poster a mere coincidental precursor, is the use of Ben-Day-like dots to form the background, a device Lichtenstein used as a major element in his early classic period. The influence of hyperreal Swiss posters from the late 1930s until 1960 on many Pop artists is a given, but no poster relates so closely to specific Pop Art as this one for the design-conscious Mobil Corporation. Very little biographical information exists on this artist, but another poster of his for Mobil Oil appears in the 1952 International Poster Annual. Also, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Bron designed a few posters for fairs around Switzerland. This poster is a proto-Pop masterpiece that stands as an exceptional vanguard to the Pop movement of the 1960s. 50 Ans Affiches Suisse p. 97.
