Page 89 - Swann Galleries - Modernist Posters - Sale 2314 - May 13, 2013

ADOLPHE MOURON CASSANDRE (1901-1968)
103 ● L’OISEAU BLEU. 1929.
39x24 inches, 99x61 cm. L. Danel, Lille.
Condition B+: repaired tears and restoration in corners and margins.
For L’Oiseau Bleu , a Pullman overnight car on the Chemins de Fer du Nord, Cassandre creates a more
metaphorical image than usual; not so much rendering a Machine Age image of the mode of
transportation, but rather, suggesting it poetically. The signal and telegraph wires visible in the center
of the image are the only indication that the poster is advertising travel by train. “In a highly effective
metaphor for speed, a [“blue bird,” the namesake of the train] is substituted for the express train
hurtling past at full steam” (Mouron p. 64). The combination of the telegraph wires, the perspective
of the sign, the incline of the typography and the direction of the bird all lead the viewer’s eye toward
a fixed vanishing point outside the poster. Mouron pl. 18, Brown & Reinhold 20, Cassandre / Tokyo
34, Cassandre / Suntory 56, p. 80, Reina Sofia p. 164, Cassandre / Weill p. 31. [4,000/6,000]