Savignac’s best posters make you smile before you have even worked out what they are selling.
That was his great trick. French advertising could be elegant, glamorous or beautifully polished; Raymond Savignac was perfectly happy for it to be funny. A visual joke, an oversized object or an absurd little character could carry the whole advertisement.
A Career Across French Advertising
His breakthrough came in post-war France, and his work went on to appear for brands including Monsavon, Bic, Citroën, Perrier, Orangina and Tefal. The drawings often look almost childishly simple at first glance, but that simplicity is doing a lot of work. The message has to land immediately.
We love the fact that Savignac posters do not take themselves too seriously. Put one next to Villemot and you get two completely different answers to the same problem of French commercial design: Villemot can be elegant and sensual; Savignac often goes for the joke.
That personality also makes his work very easy to live with. The posters were advertisements, but many have a warmth that stops them feeling like corporate material decades later.
Poster Spotlight
Perrier - Savignac
A playful, oversized take on the Perrier bottle — Savignac's visual-joke approach at its most direct.
Gitanes - Savignac
A design for Gitanes showing the same instant readability Savignac brought to very different clients.
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Grand Prix de Sculpture - Savignac
A later cultural commission, demonstrating how far Savignac's style travelled beyond straightforward product advertising.
View PosterA Note for Collectors
Original Savignac posters span many decades, clients and sizes. Establish the actual campaign and printing date, especially where popular designs have subsequently appeared as decorative reprints.
Explore More
Browse our Raymond Savignac collection, or continue with Bernard Villemot and our framing guide.
Original Posters by Raymond Savignac
A live look at Raymond Savignac posters currently in the Printed Originals collection.
