CASSANDRE by Roland Mouron, Estate of A.M.CASSANDRE

Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron, known as A.M.CASSANDRE (1901-1968), embodies the perfect synthesis between art and commercial communication of the 20th century. His sketches reveal a creative process where refined geometry meets the evocative power of symbols, transforming advertising posters into true aesthetic manifestos. A precursor of modern graphic design, Cassandre successfully combined Art Deco codes with the demands of mass communication, creating a visual language of formidable effectiveness.

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The Sketch as Laboratory of Ideas

 

Cassandre's sketches constitute exceptional testimony to his creative method. Unlike the illustrators of his era who favored ornamental detail, Cassandre developed a remarkable synthetic approach from his earliest drafts. His preparatory drawings for mythical posters such as Dubo... Dubon... Dubonnet (1932) or L'Atlantique (1931) reveal an approach where every line serves communicational effectiveness.

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Analysis of his work notebooks demonstrates methodical progression: from typographic research to composition studies, including chromatic exploration. Cassandre does not draw, he constructs. His sketches testify to an architectural approach to image, where visual hierarchy is established from the first attempts.

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Geometry in Service of Emotion

 

Cassandrian sketches reveal exceptional mastery of dynamic geometry. Influenced by cubism and futurism, the artist develops a formal vocabulary where lines of force converge toward the essential. His preparatory studies for the Nord Express poster (1927) illustrate this approach: rails transform into graphic vectors, the locomotive becomes pure kinetic energy.

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This geometric approach never sacrifices emotional impact. The sketches for Normandie (1935) show how Cassandre manages to capture the majesty of the ocean liner through the sole force of its refined volumes. As Paul Valéry wrote: "One must be of one's time," Cassandre transposes this requirement into his sketches where industrial modernity finds its aesthetic translation.

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Typographic Innovation in Gestation

 

The sketches also reveal Cassandre as a type creator. His typographic research, visible in preliminary studies, testifies to a revolutionary understanding of the letter as plastic form. The drafts of his typefaces Bifur (1929) and Acier (1930) show an approach where the alphabet becomes architecture.

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Each typographic sketch reveals his philosophy: "A letter is beautiful only if it is legible." This maxim guides his formal research, where geometric elegance never harms communicational effectiveness.

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The Creative Heritage of Sketches

 

Cassandre's sketches constitute creative patrimony of inestimable richness. They document the emergence of modern graphic design, this discipline born from the encounter between art and advertising industry. His working methods, visible in these preparatory documents, still influence contemporary creators today.

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Study of these sketches reveals an artist conscious of revolutionizing the visual codes of his era. Cassandre does not merely illustrate, he conceptualizes. His preparatory drawings testify to an approach where image becomes language, where form serves meaning with exemplary economy of means.

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The Sketch as Artistic Testament

 

Cassandre's sketches transcend their preparatory function to become works in their own right. They reveal a visionary creator who knew how to anticipate the challenges of contemporary visual communication. In these refined strokes, in these formal researches, the future of graphic design takes shape. Cassandre did not merely create posters, he invented a new relationship to image, an aesthetic of effectiveness that continues to irrigate contemporary creation.

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His sketches thus remain testimony to a silent revolution, one that transformed advertising posters into true art, giving birth to this discipline we call graphic design today.

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