Poster, Cuisine électrique – Économique – Exquise – Propre – Pratique,

ca. 1930

A Cubist formal vocabulary and a reduced composition emphasizing the plane are characteristic of Jean Carlu’s early posters. He was among the leading French poster designers of the 1920s and 1930s. It is clear from his abstracted posters that he came from a family of architects and aimed to become one himself. After losing his right arm in an accident, Carlu dedicated himself to graphic design.
The outline of the stylized housekeeper figure is taken up in the lines of the lettering. Image and text blend together into a unified composition that is tilted slightly from the vertical. The coin purse in the outstretched hand emphasizes the argument for economy. When compared with the purely informative reverse side of the poster, the progressive nature of the design becomes even more apparent. At the same time, it is consonant with a number of modernist posters from the 1930s that were designed for the Salon des arts ménagers (Household Arts Show), which had been presenting the latest household inventions annually since 1923. (Bettina Richter)