Dec 19, 2007 - Sale 2133

Sale 2133 - Lot 31

Price Realized: $ 1,920
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
GUS BOFA (GUSTAVE BLANCHOT ? - 1968) RUDGE-WHITWORTH.
62 1/2x47 inches. Ch. Verneau, Paris.
Condition B+: restored losses in upper left corner, top margin and right corner; vertical and horizontal folds; repaired tear through bottom margin affecting text.
Gus Bofa was one of the most prolific illustrators working between the wars. His work appeared in countless magazines, he became director of Le Rire magazine in 1909 and took over Sourire in 1912. He also enjoyed designing posters, and around 1910 published a self-promotional booklet, "L'Affiche Gus Bofa." While his posters are basically enlarged caricatures, Bofa understands exactly what makes a good poster. As he wrote in his booklet, a poster "is funny, it's a color spot, it's original--that's why it stops the eye." He applies this formula perfectly here, combining the improbably humorous image, with a humorous slogan. Rare. Bofa p. 110.