Monday, November 16, 2009

beautiful vintage french pharmaceutical ads


i'm not sure about the ethics of picking things out of the trash at one's place of employment, so i'll refrain from telling you where i used to work. i will just say that it was a place where one could find very interesting things in the rubbish bin.

it's been years since i worked there. all of the amazing things (which can generally classified as ephemera) that i acquired (things that were given to me, things that i retrieved from the bin and photocopies of other wonderful things that weren't being discarded) have been sitting in a file box, untouched, for many moons. i recently started going through them and i'll be sharing some of my favorite bits and pieces here.

there are some truly collectible things there--an art multiples or two, for example. but i would never try to profit from these items. even if i were so inclined, i could never part with them anyway. it was a special time, working that job. those things mean a lot to me.


these two vintage french pharmaceutical advertisements, designed by noted french poster artist jacques auriac, were rescued from the rubbish bin. i didn't realize that the designs were signed when i originally found them. i just marvelled at their beauty. after a quick web search, i've found that there is at least one book and an one exhibition that showcase auriac's gorgeous graphic work.

they have been sitting folded up in one box or another for more than half a century, but i now think they're suitable for framing. the only drawback is that i can't frame both of them--they are on opposite sides of a single page.

i have no idea what magazine they came from. these are also not the full-size ads. my scanner is not large enough to accommodate the whole page. but i'm hoping i was able to capture the graphics' beauty reasonably well.

1 comment:

  1. they make double sided frames...might take some searching or a good art framer, but it could be done.

    those are totally worth framing. i would've loved to have had your job there btw. i think you know that.

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