Tag: French

Designer Desire: Cassandre

Mosaic of artworks by Cassandre - aka Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron | H is for Home

Mentor to last week’s Designer Desire focus, Raymond Savignac, Cassandre was an international graphic design and advertising heavyweight of the 20th century.

Cassandre – real name Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron – is best known for his playful Dubo Dubon Dubonnet artworks and his travel posters. They really give the feel of the time; the 1930s were all about modernism and the machine age – speed, sleekness and adventure. It was an epoch when international travel was becoming accessible to the masses.

He was responsible for creating the famous Yves St Laurent logo and scarf and playing card designs for Hermès. He also produced a number of typefaces including Acier Noir, Bifur, Greyhound and Peignot.

His works are in the permanent collections of MOMA and the V&A. His original posters can fetch as much as £30,000. However, a selection of prints are available from less than £10.00.

Portrait of Cassandre - aka Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouroncredit

Additional image credits:

Christies

Designer Desire: Raymond Savignac

Collection of Raymond Savignac advertising posters | H is for Home

Raymond Savignac (1907-2002) has been referred to as the last of the great French poster artists. Indeed, he has produced advertising designs for classic French brands such as Air France, Cinzano, Citroën, Gitanes, Le Figaro and Perrier. Also, companies including Band Aid, Bic pens, Dunlop, Life Magazine and Pepsi-Cola. He even designed a wine bottle label for the Mouton Rothschild vineyard – you don’t get much more French than that!

You can purchase reproduction prints of his designs from art.com and vintage & brand-new ones on Etsy.

He had a long and prolific career – producing over 600 designs and working well into his 90s.

Portrait of Raymond Savignaccredit

Additional image credits:

Invaluable

Designer Desire: Bernard Buffet

Mosaic of Bernard Buffet artwork | H is for Home

We’ve highlighted Bernard Buffet before on our blog. We have a few of his lovely prints dotted around our house.

Buffet (1928-1999) was hugely successful and extremely prolific – producing over 8,000 paintings in his lifetime. He was described by one biographer as “The modern Mega-Artist”. As part of his exclusive contract with Galerie Drouant-David, the artist staged a major solo exhibition every year. Suffice to say, there are an awful lot of prints and lithographs on the market; check out eBay and Etsy in the first instance. If you have a spare few tens of thousands of pounds, there are also originals to be had on auction sites such as Christies.

Buffet developed Parkinson’s disease in later years which prevented him from working. The disease was cited as the reason he committed suicide at his home in Tourtour, Provence.

If you’d like further insight into the artist, there’s an extensive essay online about him by The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) who have 3 of his works in their collection. There are numerous books and exhibition catalogues available as well.

Portrait of Bernard Buffet with his wife & muse, Annabelcredit

Additional image credits:

Pinterest

Designer Desire: Lefor Openo

Lefor Openo artwork mosaic | H is for Home

Welcome to our new blog series, ‘Designer Desire’, where we’ll feature one designer per week whose work we love. We’re kicking off with Lefor Openo who we’ve mentioned once or twice before.

Lefor Openo comprised of two French women, Marie-Claire Lefort and Marie-Francine Oppeneau. They met while studying at Lycée Claude-Bernard Paris, and collaborated from 1955 to 1967. They were primarily poster artists; their designs were used extensively by Loterie Nationale (the national lottery of France). They designed posters for Charles de Gaulle – for the 1958 constitutional referendum and again for his 1965 presidential election campaign. They also produced advertising artwork for other organisations and brands such as Electricité de France, Kodak, Singer Sewing Machines. They designed a poster for the 1959 film Babette s’en va-t-en guerre, (Babette goes to War) starring Brigitte Bardot. Apparently, she is the one upon whom they based most of their ‘models’.

As well as posters, very occasionally you’ll come across postcards and tea towels bearing their designs on Etsy and eBay. We’ve also seen evidence of a doll and a couple of pin dishes from the era and we have a tin in our shop which we believe to be one of their designs – we’ve never seen another!

Marie-Claire Lefort died in 1971 and Marie-Francine Oppeneau is now 81 years old. Once upon a time, there was a basic website with information and images of some of their designs but it seems to have been allowed to expire. If you know (or want to find out) anything more about them and their designs, please leave a comment below.

Marie-Claire Lefort & Marie-Francine Oppeneau of Lefor Openo