JEAN CARLU (1900-1997) PSCHITT! 1949-1950. 50 3/4x35 1/2 inches. Hertig. Condition A-: minor restoration at edges. By the end of the 1940s Carlu was willing to move back to France. Upon his return he made connections with several of the large Parisian advertising agencies, including de Plas, who handled the large account for Perrier. The agency had already worked on the campaign with Cassandre whose sophisticated poster failed to excite the bottled water market. They then chose Carlu, who had devised a brilliant advertising idea. Perrier's bottle, with its distinctive shape, was already very well known around France (thanks in some part to a poster designed by Bernard Villemot in the late 1940s). So Carlu decided to focus his attention on the sound the sparkling water made when the bottles were opened: "Pschitt." Without ever mentioning the product name in the poster, Perrier became "l'eau qui fait pschitt" (the water that does pschitt). Carlu successfully captured a sound by unusual means, depicting a clown with an oversized ear. This very successful poster was the start of a long collaboration between Perrier, de Plas and Carlu. Carlu 75.
