Skylarain

Dubonnet. 1933. A. M. Cassandre.

Each: 11 5/8 x 15 in./29.5 x 38 cm

Cassandre’s most popular and enduring advertising idea was for Dubonnet, an odd aperitif created with fortified wine, herbs, spices and quinine. It’s basically the French version of the gin-&-tonic: a drink invented so French Foreign Legionnaires in North Africa could get the quinine down. For a commercial market, however, the libation was a little more dubious. Cassandre ran with it: “Dubo,” (a casual French word for ‘doubt’); “Dubon” (‘good’)… Dubonnet. “Whether Cassandre was thinking of comic strips or motion pictures is impossible to say,“ but "among French posters of the twentieth century none is better known. It was kept in circulation for more than two decades” (Brown & Reinhold, p. 17). This is in a version not previously seen: 3 sheets, smaller format, and with the originally intended blue center panel.