Geo Dorival, 1879-1968. The posters. First edition. New condition. 

Geneva: Patrick Cramer, 2009 (Alan Wofsy Fine Arts distribution). Decorative board.s 32.5 x 23.5 cm. 198 pages, 274 color illustrations,...Geo Dorival (1879-1968) is one of the most important poster artists of French travel at the start of the twentieth century. From 1907, he produced numerous posters and advertising documents for railway companies. He works in the service of the largest seaside resorts on the Ocean and the French Riviera, well-known spa towns and fashionable mountain destinations. A talented colorist, Geo Dorival gives his compositions a pleasant and attractive atmosphere. Particularly fond of twilight and nocturnal atmospheres which allow him to use original and unexpected ranges, he often gives his posters a mysterious appearance.Geo Dorival is very successful and also receives numerous advertising, press, automotive and food orders. Close to Parisian entertainment circles, he produces several representations of Chinese shadows. He adapts the principle to his posters, thus accentuating their originality and their Art Nouveau dimension. He celebrates nascent aviation in a series of compositions announcing the first exhibitions of "aerial locomotion".Interrupted during the First World War - during which he produced works of a patriotic nature - his career as a poster artist for tourism resumed with a vengeance in 1918. However, his production fell since he became in the meantime artistic director and then director of the L'Art et la Mode magazine. But Geo Dorival cannot have two careers at the same time. In 1928, he put an end to his poster artist work on a masterpiece, the Vers le Mont-Blanc triptych, in which he combined with incomparable success his personal style with great graphic modernity.Geo Dorival therefore devoted himself exclusively to his magazine, which he ensured the success. He died in 1968, leaving behind around 110 posters, including many masterpieces.This work gives, after a biographical and artistic introduction, the catalogue raisonné. Richly illustrated, it offers the first panorama of the work of Geo Dorival, a key player in the French tourist poster, for which it takes one of the first places.Jean-Charles Giroud, curator for many years of the collection of posters of the Library of Geneva, has already written numerous books and studies on the Swiss poster. He is now the director of this institution.