May 10, 2004 - Sale 2006

Sale 2006 - Lot 30

Price Realized: $ 1,725
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
JOSEP RENAU-MONTORO (1907-1982) PARTIDO COMUNISTA. Circa 1936-37.
39x27 inches. Graficas Valencia.
Condition B: paper loss in corners; creases and repaired tears along vertical and horizontal folds. Framed.
Josep Renau was one of the only Spanish graphic designers with a Modernist, Art Deco style. Influenced by John Heartfield, Renau's photomontage posters began appearing during the Spanish Civil War. With the defeat of the Republicans, Renau fled from Spain and only returned to his native Valencia upon the death of Franco. Here, in one of his best posters ("War Industry / Powerful Lever of Victory"), Renau has created an excellent photomontage for the Communist Party. The muscular arm helping to turn the cogs of a mighty machine foreshadows Jean Carlu's iconic image "Production," which appeared in America in 1942 to help spur on the mighty American war machine. Palette p. 79.