Normandie NY 1935

This poster, Normandie NY, was made by Cassandre, and you can see straight away that the artist loved bold shapes and colours. It’s like he’s saying, “Let’s not mess around, let’s get straight to the point.” The ship's bow is split right down the middle, half in shadow, half in light. It makes you think about journeys, beginnings and endings, like two sides of the same coin. The colours are pretty simple, mostly grey, white, and black, but then there’s that pop of red near the top, like a little spark of excitement. Look at how solid that ship seems, but also, there’s a sense of speed, of moving forward. Cassandre’s posters remind me of the Italian futurist posters, like Fortunato Depero, but there’s something different, something so solid and stylish, like the artist is thinking about a world moving forwards, but with one foot planted firmly on the ground.