May 10, 2004 - Sale 2006

Sale 2006 - Lot 107

Price Realized: $ 1,150
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
VARIOUS ARTISTS MUSEE DES ARTS DECORATIFS. Group of 8 posters. 1946-1949.
Sizes vary, each approximately 24x16 inches.
Condition varies, generally B+: tears, creases and minor discoloration in margins; pinholes in corners. Paper.
These posters show that immediately after World War II the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris resumed its traditionally diversified exhibition program, encompassing all of the fields of decorative arts. Three of the poster artists whose work is represented in this group are well known: Nathan (1910-2001) had been a disciple of Jean Carlu, and a renowned designer in his own right since the 1930s, designing posters for decorative arts events (like the Salon de l'Habitation). Picart-Ledoux (1902-1982) had also worked in advertising as well as the decorative arts (he designed the china that Air France still uses). Hans Erni (1909- ), is a prominent Swiss designer and painter who was invited as a guest. Stylistically these images all broadcast the fact that following the war the Art Deco style had disappeared from the mainstream and no other dominant movement had yet come in to replace it. Basically illustrative images, there is no cohesive core to their design. They are certainly interesting documents, and rare (we have never seen them before) because the printing run in those years would have been the bare minimum. Publicite p. 315.