Lot n° 45
Estimation :
350 - 400
EUR
A.M. Cassandre: “Le Jour” Tells the Truth, ca. 1933 (enamel - Lot 45
A.M. Cassandre: “Le Jour” Tells the Truth, ca. 1933 (enamel sign)
Advertising enamel sign (enamel on sheet steel)
Promotional item based on a composition by A.M. Cassandre
Dimensions: 30 × 39 cm (11.8 × 15.4 in.)
Condition: Very poor condition—significant enamel loss with rust and oxidation of the exposed metal backing, especially in the upper left corner and along all four edges; chips and missing enamel affecting the sky and part of the lettering; scratches and general soiling. Mounting holes at the corners. The composition and the entire text remain perfectly legible. Unframed.
References: Advertising plaque by A.M. Cassandre for the launch of the daily newspaper *Le Jour* (ed. Léon Bailby), 1933. Bibliography: H. Mouron, *A.M. Cassandre*, 1985 (specific reference for this plaque to be verified). Market comparison: a copy of the same model, Salorges Auctions, Nantes, Oct. 26, 2013 (est. €600–800).
Created for the launch of Léon Bailby’s nationalist daily newspaper Le Jour (first issue on October 3, 1933), this enamel plaque is one of the few promotional items designed by A.M. Cassandre, the leading poster artist of the interwar period (Étoile du Nord, Nord Express, Dubonnet, Normandie). The composition is centered around a stylized solar eclipse—a dark sphere surrounded by planetary orbits and stars, obscuring a radiant white sun whose ochre rays spread across a deep blue sky rendered in an airbrushed gradient. At the top, the title *Le Jour* is set in Cassandre’s characteristic geometric capital letters, above the line “Director Léon Bailby”; at the bottom, the slogan “Tells the truth” and, in the lower right corner, “On sale here.” The imagery of the eclipse and light functions as a visual metaphor—the dawning of day, the truth brought to light—transposing Cassandre’s airbrushed modernism into vitrified enamel. The signs for this model, intended for retail outlets, were displayed at newsstands throughout France.
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