?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
JEAN CARLU (1900-1997) CAF / VOYAGES AÉRIENS. Circa 1926. 39 1/2x29 inches, 100 1/2x73 3/4 cm. Crété, Paris. Condition B+: repaired tears, creases and overpainting at edges; darkening in margins. In the first decade of commercial flight in France beginning in 1919, the Compagnie Aérienne Française not only chartered passenger and freight planes flown by such notable pilots as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, but also pioneered aerial photography with designated documentary flights that assisted cartographers, city planners and laymen alike. While the airline's influence was short-lived, it nonetheless factored greatly into advances in these fields; its emblem, designed by Jean Carlu for this poster, remained with the company on brochures, posters and tail fins through its closure in the mid 1930s. Following an unfortunate accident that cost Carlu his right arm in 1918, his focus shifted from a career in architecture to one in graphic design. Inspired by the technological and artistic advances of the time, Carlu's design came at what is considered the height of his creativity, infusing elements of cubism and abstraction in the bold letters and forms. Its modern minimalism and bright colors pair well with the wording, which suggests that CAF offers "air voyages" as the most advanced and fashionable means of travel on earth. While this poster has previously been catalogued as dating to 1919 by several prominent institutions, it is unlikely that the newly amputated 19-year-old with no prior design experience created such an accomplished aviation poster. That caviat, combined with his vastly different style early in his career, a signature that he only used between 1924 and 1927, and the logo's appearance on other CAF materials in the late 1920's, support our new attribution to this later date. Variations of this poster utilizing different text and printed by different printers were made during the company's tenure, although few have appeared at auction. Fly Now! p. 38 (var), Crouse p. 24 (var).
