Some posters need their date explained. Cassandre’s often do not look as though they should be nearly a century old in the first place.
Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron, better known as A.M. Cassandre, had an extraordinary talent for stripping an object down to its strongest idea. Trains become speed. Ocean liners become vast geometric structures. A bottle becomes a piece of architecture. Type is never something dropped on afterwards; it belongs to the picture.
That is what we love about his work. It is disciplined without feeling cold. Posters such as his great transport and travel designs were advertisements first, yet they still look completely resolved as pieces of graphic design.
Original Cassandre material needs careful description because famous images have been revisited in later authorised editions, exhibitions and modern reproductions. The design may date from the 1920s or 1930s while the sheet in front of you does not. We always want those two dates kept separate.
If Mid-Century design is one of your usual collecting areas, Cassandre is a fascinating step backwards. So much of what feels clean and modern later in the century is already being explored here.
What to Look For When Collecting Cassandre
Keep the design date and the print date separate. Famous Cassandre images exist as later authorised editions and exhibition reprints as well as period originals, so establish exactly which sheet you are looking at before valuing it.
Original Posters by A.M. Cassandre
A live look at A.M. Cassandre posters currently in the Printed Originals collection.
