Nicholas D. Lowry on the William W. Crouse Collection

Art Deco at 100: Iconic Posters from the William W. Crouse Collection

In Paris, on April 29, 1925, the Exposition des Art Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes opened to the public. The exhibition was conceived to highlight the new modern style of design, of which French artists were at the forefront. Over the next half a year, more than 16 million visitors streamed through the exhibitions of architecture, interior design, graphic design, fashion, jewelry, and other decorative arts from 20 different countries. Now, on the centennial of the exhibition from which the term “Art Deco” was eventually coined, Swann is honored that William (Bill) Crouse chose us to sell highlights from his inimitable collection of posters. 

I have known Bill for almost my entire professional life. At first, before I met him in person, I had heard his name­—there was some collector who was actively assembling the most formidable collection of Art Deco posters. Over the years, he worked with many advisors and dealers I knew, who helped guide him and educate him, but ultimately, he developed his own, fine—and refined—sense of taste, and his collection grew. I was there in 2002, at Gail Chisholm’s Gallery in New York, for her exhibition A.M. Cassandre and the French Avant Garde Posters, where Bill bought the Dubonnet triptych; a year later, in 2003, Bill particiapted in Swann’s auction of “The Chassaing Collection of French Art Deco Posters,” where he added several other rare and exquisite pieces to his collection. 

Bill has always sought after the posters with “clean geometric lines and bright colors,”  particularly the strong, elegant Machine Age images. Never one to hesitate to buy the finest examples of rare posters, many of the items in Bill’s collection are so scarce they very infrequently, if ever, come to market. For posters, which are by their very definition multiples, it is hard to imagine that images are so scarce that only a small handful survive. And yet Bill’s collection is filled with these scarce images. 

As his collection developed, so did its renown, breaking into the mainstream in 2013 when he published The Art Deco Poster (Vendome Press). Now, out of print, the book sells for hundreds of dollars. The Crouse collection was given a further boost of publicity in 2023, when it went on exhibition at New York’s Poster House museum. The six-month show was a sensation, which is no wonder, as Museum Director and Chief Curator Angelina Lippert explained to the New York Times, that it was “the first global history of Art Deco posters hosted at a museum.” 

Bill didn’t just seek to amass the greatest collection of Art Deco posters but lived surrounded by them in his Florida home. In doing so, he sought out the best pieces he could find and put the utmost care into maintaining and presenting them. The frames are of the highest quality, with the posters archivally mounted within specially designed Art Deco matte black frames—each with cutting-edge, exacting, Tru-Vue acrylic. It was not just the posters themselves; their entire presentation was museum quality. 

We are thrilled to offer 100 lots in honor of the 100th anniversary of the defining 1925 Parisian exhibition. The posters are still as breathtaking and fresh as the day they were created.