?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 10,000 - $ 12,000
PIERRE FIX-MASSEAU (1905-1994) EXACTITUDE. 1932. 391/2x241/2 inches. Edita, Paris. Condition A-: minor repaired tears, creases and discoloration in margins; horizontal folds in image. In one of the classic railroad images to emerge from the Art Deco era, Fix-Masseau uses the geometric images of the triangle of the station roof, the circle and rectangle at the front of the train, and the squares on the platform, to create a powerful image. Fix-Masseau had a very long career, that began in the 1920s and ended in the 1980s when he designed a series of posters for the Venice-Simplon Orient Express. Of all his work Exactitude is definitely his masterpiece and really shows the influence of A. M. Cassandre (with whom he had worked as an assistant since 1928). Most often compared to Cassandre's Nord Express in its use of perspective, Fix-Masseau here captures an entirely different element of train travel than is featured in Cassandre's romanticized image: punctuality. Using warm colors and by prominently displaying the station clock as the train is pulling in, the artist emphasizes his message which is written across the top of the poster in a type face that is as streamlined as the design of the train itself. Modern 171 Weill p. 215 no. 382, Art Deco p. 63.
