PIERRE COMMARMOND (1897-1983) DEAUVILLE / LA PLAGE FLEURIE. Circa 1930.
38 1/2x24 1/4 inches, 97 3/4x61 1/2 cm. Guides Mayeux, Paris.
Condition B+: minor restored losses in corners; repaired tears, creases and minor overpainting in margins and image.
In the tradition of the best Art Deco posters, such as the work of Roger Broders, Maurice Lauro, Jean Dupas and Georges Barbier, Commarmond, here, captures a mood and a mindset in the simplest, yet most stylized and suggestive manner. For such an elegant and appealing image by a prominent artist, it is unusual that this poster is so rare. We have only found two examples at auction in the past ten years. An explanation for this is perhaps that as a promotional combination between the airways and the French State Railway, far fewer of these were printed than the posters that were commissioned by the railways themselves. Commarmond was a painter who is best remembered for his plethora of colorful, gently stylized travel posters designed for the French railways in the 1920s and 30s. Very few of his posters depict people. Trouville / Deauville p. 65, Train 252, Chemins de Fer 121.