Pépa Bonafé
1928 COLOR LITHOGRAPH, one of Carlu’s most celebrated posters.
A classic Art Deco poster, showing cubist influences, by Jean Carlu, one of the early twentieth-century’s preeminent poster designers.
On his famous image of the comedienne Pépa Bonafé, Carlu explained: "The Pépa Bonafé agent asked me to create a poster but I was not, like Loupot, a posterist of women. I did not feel comfortable. However, by stylizing her profile, I immediately caught the resemblance. Pépa Bonafé did not look her best, but she understood that this poster on walls would be excellent publicity... I combined curves and straight lines so that I could associate the mask of joy with the mask of sadness.”
Paris: Marcel Picard, 1928. 22 ½ x14 ¾ in, 570x370mm. Linen backed. Clean folds, otherwise fine.
Price: $1,900 .