Born 1900 in Bonnières-sur-Seine, French graphic designer Jean Carlu started his career as a professional poster-designer in 1919, after a competition by a producer of dental aids (Glycodont) in 1918.
Posters designed by Jean Carlu in the 1920s and ’30s
Carlu was attracted by cubism and by the works of Juan Gris and Albert Gleizes. He was one of the first who realized that to fix a trademark in the minds of consumers a process needs to be gone through in which schematic forms and expressive colors are applied. These are the characteristics that give his posters and other works their distinguishable quality.
The fame of Carlu rests mainly on two posters: for Monsavon and for the Théâtre Pigalle. He also designed a pioneering label for the 1924 vintage of Château Mouton-Rothschild, and designed posters for the Container Corporation of America, Pan American Airways, and Air France.
Carlu died in 1997 in Nogent-sur-Marne. Here below is a set of vintage posters designed by Jean Carlu in the 1920s and 1930s.
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