Air-orient 1935

Cassandre made this poster, Air-Orient, in 1935; it’s a lithograph, which is a printmaking process using oil and stone. The composition and color palette work together to create a feeling of streamlined simplicity. It's like, form follows function, you know? I’m really drawn to the way Cassandre uses bold, geometric shapes to suggest depth and movement. It is so graphic! Take the image of the stylized bird holding the envelope in its mouth – it's simultaneously a bird and an airplane, with its wings dissolving into the plane's fuselage. It’s a great example of how the material aspects, like the stark contrast between the black and white, create a strong visual impact. Cassandre's work feels very connected to the kind of precision and industrial design of someone like Leger or Le Corbusier, who were working at the same time, but with that added element of pure graphic design. It feels like a kind of universal language that transcends borders.