JEAN CARLU (1900-1997) SIROP DES VOSGES. 1950. 62 1/4x47 inches. De Plas, Paris. Condition A-: vertical and horizontal folds. The "gag visuel" (visual gag) became a major advertising trend in Paris after it was introduced by Raymond Savignac in a poster featuring a cow advertising Monsavon soap (see Swann Modernist Poster Auction #2039, lot 141). Carlu jumped on the visual gag bandwagon and, for this cough syrup (which extinguished the burn in your throat), he chose a fireman with a hose as the brand's advertising mascot. Although Carlu himself confessed that this was not one of his greatest images, it is a solid example of French 1950s advertising. Carlu 79.
