Centre de Création industrielle poster series, 1969–71
“Le Design. Joe C. Colombo, Charles Eames, Fritz Eichler, Verner Panton, Roger Tallon”, 1969.
At some point in the early 1970s, it seemed like France was (at last?) about to embrace the International Style. Eager to appear as a modernizing force after the momentous times of May 1968, president Georges Pompidou’s right-wing governments embarked on several highly visible initiatives which deeply transformed the cultural landscape of the country — one of the most famous being the Centre Beaubourg/Musée national d’Art moderne, eventually opened in 1977. Most of these projects were communicated to the general public using a thoroughly “modern” graphic language, whose main practitioners were the few Swiss designers (Jean Widmer, Rudi Meyer) which had been working in Paris since the end of the 1950s.
Widmer was arguably the most prolific of them all. Displaying a steady stream of all-lowercase Helvetica and abstract imagery, his posters for the state-funded Centre de Création industrielle (“Center for Industrial Design”), which had been established in 1969, played a major role in introducing the “Swiss Style” to French audiences.
“Luminaire. Sélection internationale”, 1971.
“Paris construit. Présenté par Ionel Schein”, 1970.
A selection of posters, partly dated 1970 and/or 1971.
2 Comments on “Centre de Création industrielle poster series, 1969–71”
Wow, it seems so cool. Love it!
Yes, great posters, and a great series. More background story (and more images of posters) can be found on the website of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (MAD) in Paris – albeit only in French.