Lot 50: POSTER: GASTON BOUY (1866-1943). CHOCOLAT DEL

GASTON BOUY (1866-1943) CHOCOLAT DELACRE. Circa 1900.
22x14 3/4 inches, 56x38 cm. Maison Vanderauwera, Brussels.
Condition A-: creases in margins and image; pencil marks in upper right corner.
Bouy was well regarded as a painter specializing in portraits of women, and this is his only known poster. Despite limited experience with posters, this image shows great graphic ingenuity. Depicting a woman whose back is to the viewer and whose gown seems to evaporate into the border of the image, it is designed using only three colors, strong outlining and bold, original hand-drawn letters. Charles Delacre was a chemist who began manufacturing chocolate for medicinal use in the 1870s. As his business grew he added coffee and tea to the list of products he manufactured, and then, by the 1880s he started producing biscuits. The brand still exists today. Chocolate p. 44.