A.M. Cassandre (Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron) 1901–1968 Spidoléine (Exceptionally rare vintage poster)
Caption Brief: Cassandre goes for extreme simplicity in this poster for motor oil, but as Brown & Reinhold aptly point out, “there is still plenty of room for playfulness. The natural inclination would have been to take a relatively small object [...] and make it life size or larger. Here Cassandre makes a more effective advertisement by taking the completely opposite approach of shrinking the oil can’s size. Instead of recreating the lettering on the oil can, he turns to a typographic exercise by extending the letters beyond the limits of the object and progressively diminishing the size of the characters while switching their color from yellow to black as they intrude on the yellow band” (p. 16). The line of golden oil trickling from the can has a magnetic appeal to the eye, a classic example of less being more. The present work may be the only extant copy of this rare design.
1932
62½ h × 47 w in (159 × 119 cm)
Alliance Graphique, Paris
Provenance: Collection of William Crouse
Exhibited: Art Deco: The Golden Age of Illustration, 31 August 2025 - 29 March 2026, Sarasota Art Museum, Florida
Condition: Cond B+: with creases, some with cracking to ink, touch-ups and pinpoints of foxing. Work has not been examined out of frame but is fully visible. Framed behind acrylic measuring 68.25 × 52.625 × 1.5 inches.
Literature: The Art Deco Poster, Crouse, p. 88; Mouron, 30; Brown & Reinhold, 29; Cassandre/Suntory, p. 177; PAI-XIV, 164
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Caption Brief: Cassandre goes for extreme simplicity in this poster for motor oil, but as Brown & Reinhold aptly point out, “there is still plenty of room for playfulness. The natural inclination would have been to take a relatively small object [...] and make it life size or larger. Here Cassandre makes a more effective advertisement by taking the completely opposite approach of shrinking the oil can’s size. Instead of recreating the lettering on the oil can, he turns to a typographic exercise by extending the letters beyond the limits of the object and progressively diminishing the size of the characters while switching their color from yellow to black as they intrude on the yellow band” (p. 16). The line of golden oil trickling from the can has a magnetic appeal to the eye, a classic example of less being more. The present work may be the only extant copy of this rare design.
1932
62½ h × 47 w in (159 × 119 cm)
Alliance Graphique, Paris
Provenance: Collection of William Crouse
Exhibited: Art Deco: The Golden Age of Illustration, 31 August 2025 - 29 March 2026, Sarasota Art Museum, Florida
Condition: Cond B+: with creases, some with cracking to ink, touch-ups and pinpoints of foxing. Work has not been examined out of frame but is fully visible. Framed behind acrylic measuring 68.25 × 52.625 × 1.5 inches.
Literature: The Art Deco Poster, Crouse, p. 88; Mouron, 30; Brown & Reinhold, 29; Cassandre/Suntory, p. 177; PAI-XIV, 164
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
