French Modernism in graphic design occupies a space between fine art and commercial culture. In the postwar decades, France produced a generation of designers and illustrators who brought wit, elegance, and painterly sensibility to posters, book jackets, advertising, and exhibition graphics.
French Modernism’s foundational moment came with the poster campaigns for French railway companies and ocean liner operators, which from the mid-1920s onwards commissioned designers including A.M. Cassandre and, later, Paul Colin and Charles Loupot. The 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs accelerated this process, establishing Cassandre and Jean Carlu as the dominant voices in French commercial art and cementing a streamlined, geometric vocabulary within poster design. The postwar decades saw French Modernism extend into film poster design, tourism advertising, and the emerging language of corporate branding, carried forward by Raymond Savignac and Bernard Villemot.
Explore designers central to this movement including Raymond Savignac, Jacques Nathan-Garamond, and Jean Colin. See also Mid Century Modernism, 1950s Graphic Design, and France.
Design Archive Feature, Illustration, Members Only Content, Regional Histories
Like the other Cartoguides I have collected from Shell, these artefacts follow a consistent format. These were the first printed editions in the Cartoguides series and were published between 1958 and 1960. Each cover design was illustrated by French graphic artist, Jean Colin
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Design Archive Feature, Illustration, Members Only Content, Regional Histories
Illustrated tourist brochures designed by Alain Cornic. Little is known about Cornic, at least in the magazines and books I have collected, his clients included Shell, Air France and the French Tourist Office.
Read ArticleRaymond Savignac‘s simplified poster imagery, Jacques Nathan-Garamond‘s illustration and typography, and the work of Jean Colin are fine example of this era.
From the graphic design archive:
From the graphic design archive:
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From the graphic design archive:
From the graphic design archive:
From the graphic design archive:
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From the graphic design archive:
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Illustration, Ephemera, Members Only Content
A mixed set of tickets from various Japanese lotteries dating from 1956 to 1985, including the Tokyo Metropolitan, West Japan and National Local Autonomy lotteries.
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Magazines & Publishing, Members Only Content, Typography & Type Design
The Face shocked the world of magazines, and the design industry, with its revolutionary design by Neville Brody.
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Members Only Content, Designer Profiles
A 1939 article on American designer, Walter Frank Bomar, published in The Inland Printer, Vol 104, No. 03, 1939.
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Design Archive Feature, Designer Profiles, Ephemera, Illustration, Members Only Content
Beyond his books, Dick Bruna's vivid colour and simplified forms found their way onto posters, packaging, murals and stamps, many of which feature in my growing collection.
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Members Only Content, Design Archive Feature, Designer Profiles
An article on Valentin Zietara , originally in German, published in Gebrauchsgraphik, 10, 1930, written by H K Frenzel translated by E. T. Scheffauer
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Members Only Content, Designer Profiles, Studios & Collectives
A 1903-1904 article on Die Steglitzer Werkstatt, originally in German, published in Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, Vol. XIII, October 1903–March 1904.
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