HENRI CASSIERS (1858-1944) RED STAR LINE / ANTWERPEN - NEW YORK. 1899. 37 1/2x51 inches, 95 1/4x129 1/2 cm. O. de Rycker, Brussels. Condition B+: losses in top margin; minor tears and creases in margins and along sharp vertical and horizontal folds; ink stamp in image; tape on verso. Paper. Throughout his career, Cassiers designed over a dozen posters for this Belgian shipping company. This was the first and one of the best in the whole series, depicting the Westernland I within an unmistakable Art Nouveau context. Each poster was predicated on the simple idea of people watching one of the line's ships. After this first image, Cassiers began to use flat colors and only depicted Flemish peasants. For this first poster, Cassiers is still in thralls to traditional Art Nouveau as practiced in the artistic circles of Brussels, exemplified here by the child's hair and the decorative frieze of stars around the typography. The combination of the graphic and the painterly rendering of the sea and the ship create one of Cassiers' most spectacular posters. Belgian 13, Belgique p. 30-31, Cassiers cover and 67, DFP-II 996, Belle Epoque 11, Maitres 1900 p. 98, Life With Posters 129.
