A.M. Cassandre Art Deco Artist
An Illustrated Tribute to the Influential Artist A.M. Cassandre.
Born in 1901 in the Ukraine to French parents Adolphe Mouron Cassandre created some stunning and timeless Art Deco images and type faces.
Coming across this artists work I was immediately struck by the pure beauty and stylization which summed up (in my mind at least) the incredible style of the 1920s and 1930s.
Whilst I am a fan of of this period, so probably biased, I’m sure the elegance of this period cannot help but capture the imagination of those less familiar or indeed interested.
Nord Express
The 1930s was a unique time stylistically speaking, set in a period of relative prosperity (for some at least) between the two World Wars it brought something completely new in terms of art, travel and design.
Style became paramount, even advertising was producing visual delights. Architecture and furniture design went through a sea change washing away all that was traditional, so it’s against this background that I wanted to show you some of the works by AM Cassandre.
SS Normandie Ad Poster
Travel really began to take off around this period, albeit only for the wealthy, with little more evocative than crossing the Atlantic in a luxurious cruise ship. The SS Normandie was the height of art deco opulence and summed up our/my idealized view of the period to perfection, right down to it’s Lalique glass in the grand dining room !
Dubonnet Poster 1932
The advertising campaign posters for Dubonnet were particularly popular, both then and now as they are still printed and sold as posters. Of particular importance was the fact the the design took into account that it could be viewed and taken in by people actually travelling at speed in cars and trains. Something commonplace today revolutionary at the time.
AM Cassandre January 24 1901 to June 17 1968
The artist moved to Paris as a young man and subsequently studied art and design at École des Beaux-Arts and also at the Académie Julian evenetually going on to set up one of the world’s first specific advertising and design agencies.
Sadly, serving his country in World War II brought about an end to the business and after returning to civilian life he got by working in theatre design. His talent for classic design statement had not left him though and he proved this in 1963 by designing the now instantly recognizable Yves Saint Laurent company logo.
As with many great artists and visionaries he was given to bouts of deep depression in later life, particularly so just before he tragically took his own life in 1968.
He did leave behind a legacy not only in general style and influence which we still see today but in his actual work itself. Could he possibly have imagined that people today would pay 4 figure sums for his original advertising posters !
the dinosaur said,
December 27, 2007 @ 7:38 pm
Rod, Congratulations on a great tribute to a fine artist. It reminded me of a recent discussion on this site about what makes a work of art special, the Art Deco style was so different and new it really did change the world, it’s easy to overlook all the outstanding artists in so many fields of design (from architecture to pottery to fashion to aircraft and cars) they all made it great! It’s interesting how they all seemed to inspire each other in the same creative direction, I’ve tried to do drawings in that style and it is incredibly difficult to recreate convincingly, we underestimate their individual talents and only acknowledge the genre.
Little Brother said,
December 27, 2007 @ 10:10 pm
Rod,
A great post and nice to put a name and face to pictures I have seen many times before. There is a huge website based in the UK which sells vintage posters of these pictures and others from that genre so it shows how well it has stood the test of time, or should we say test of quality as the two go hand in hand for me.
Good work fella!
LB
Rod said,
December 28, 2007 @ 8:38 am
Dino
thanks for the great addition.
I think what really stands out about this period was that it was a complete revolution in style rather than a gradual evolution. What’s more it moved into every area - how often has that happened in history ?
It had an impact on everything from the cup you drank your tea from to the building you drank it in !
Being devoid of any artistic skills means I am perhaps poorly placed to comment on the level of skill involved but I imagine it to be very difficult technically.
The cleanliness of the lines etc leave no room for interpretation as such, whilst the images are impressionistic they are also very precise in their execution.
Pleased it’s had a good reception
All the best
Rod
Another great artist of the period I previously wrote about was Bip Pares
Rod said,
December 28, 2007 @ 8:41 am
LB
as you rightly say, true quality never goes out of style.
If it genuinely was great once why would that change ?
Mediocrity dies !
RC
Witches of Eastwick said,
December 28, 2007 @ 11:26 am
Rod,
Tamara de Lempicka is another artist we admire and have seen in exhibitions. The leap from multi corseted Victorians to the flimsy satin slips worn by the flapper girls must have seemed amazing for the time. The V & A exhibition some years back, of all things art deco from around the world was fabulous in every sense and if we had known you then Rod we would have insisted you take the plunge and break out of Wybers Wood for the cultural experience of a lifetime…. great pity!
WoE
Rod said,
December 28, 2007 @ 1:41 pm
WoE
not familiar with her work, will check it out
RC
Witches of Eastwick said,
December 28, 2007 @ 4:59 pm
Rod,
Unlike the V & A, we’re surprised you didn’t embed Josephine Baker’s famous banana dance! If ever there was something revolutionary, surely this was it. No doubt it would have livened up the Royal Variety Performance each year since
WoE