VINTAGE FRENCH ART GALLERY AND MUSEUM EXHIBIT POSTERS

Picasso, Matisse, Dufy, Renoir, Chagall, Gauguin, Pollack, Kandinsky, Miro, Cocteau, Manet, Leger, Jasper Johns, Braque, Klee, Mondrian, Buffet, de Stael, Man Ray

JIM DIETZ

2726-247 SHELTER ISLAND DR,SAN DIEGO,CA.92106 USA

phone 619 677 2758

Please visit my HOME PAGE to learn about my background in the vintage movie poster business and to view my movie posters for sale. CLICK HERE to visit my Jazz and Publicity (and some more recent Gallery posters )poster page. I have more of these posters listed on PAGE TWO of my site and also on PAGE THREE. And in PART FOUR.

If you have been to Paris, or for that matter any city or town in France, you would have seen posters, like those below, in the windows of cafes, clubs, small retail businesses. These posters, that the French call "Exposition" posters, announce the dates and locations of temporary art exhibits in the neighborhood art galleries and art museums. (Up until about 1975 almost all of these posters were printed by the firm MOURLOT in Paris and by the French these posters were often called simply "MOURLOTS") These posters almost always depicted a sample of the artwork on display at the local gallery or museum. Often the artwork was purposely made just for that poster by the featured artist. . . .assuming the artist was alive. These posters, then and now, had a very short life span - just the length of the show- usually 3 weeks to 3 months. Although the original plates were often retained by the gallery or the printer, these posters were seldom reprinted, since they announced a past event. Even today, a typical small gallery will have only about 500 posters printed and once the majority were pasted on the side of a kiosk or taped to a store front window, their individual lives were over. Usually a gallery owner will retain 50 or so copies to distribute or even sell to gallery visitors. But, once the exhibit was over, these announcement posters were no where to be found. In France up until about 1980, these posters were never considered collectible, except for some of the older Picasso's and Chagall's (etc).. NOW they are very sought after, especially the MOURLOTS.

In the early 1990's I expanded my vintage movie poster business into the area of French movie posters. I now spend about half of each year in France. I own a small flat in Paris. About a decade ago I started acquiring French gallery exhibit posters. I also tried to find French jazz and movie festival posters and also the better looking "publicity" posters. These posters had a lot of the qualities of movie posters: their life span was very short; they were never really meant to be sold; and once gone from public view, they were gone for good. In time, the walls of my Paris flat were covered with these posters. I occasionally, by accident, got duplicates. Now I have decided to sell some of the pieces in my collection.

Unless noted, these posters have no folds, but some of the posters show some use. If you have an interest in any particular piece, e mail me for a condition report. With just a couple of exceptions , I have one copy of each for sale and since this type of poster is very hard to find, do not send me any sort of "want" list, unless your "wants" are very general. The great majority of these posters are original issue, but naturally some of the big museums, like the Louvre, today do reprint their more popular posters. But this reprinting is a relative recent phenonenom. I do not knowingly deal in reproductions. When I originally purchased these posters, I never considered them an investment. I just got what I liked. I knew that I would not get a "second chance" on most of the pieces, so I just went ahead! Now, I am certain that many of my pieces are very rare and will probably never turn up again. But others might not as rare. One interesting note- many of the famous galleries listed, especially those in Paris, no longer exist. In the 30's to the 60's most of the major Paris galleries were grouped on Rue Faubourg Saint Honore in the 8th. Now, on that street, as most Paris visitors know , are only found the retail outlets of the big fashion houses, like Versace, Armani, etc. Fine art long ago surrendered to fashion.

In bold letters at the beginning of each listing is the name of the poster artist. (Some of my images do not show the border of the poster and excuse the blur.) Dimensions are in inches. (If I have a "?" after the date, it means the actual year is not printed on the poster and I have made an educated guess)

(In my listings , the word "Vence" refers to Saint-Paul - a couple of miles from the hill town of Vence, high above Nice and the Med. ..the home of the famous Fondation Maeght. I often vacation in Vence and in the area of Cannes and Nice which accounts for the posters from these areas.).

Most of my PICASSO posters are on another page. CLICK HERE.

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KANDINSKY, 18x28, 1982 ?, Galerie Maeght, Paris, $50. 3" bottom border slit.

LA RUSSIE ET LES AVANT-GARDES, 2003, 18"X34", SAINT-PAUL,FRANCE, MAEGHT. $75.

DITTO - DIFFERENT IMAGE, 18"x34", $75.

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WOLS, 22X34, Galerie Beaubourg, 1985 ?, Paris. I have two copies of this magnificent WOLS poster. Excuse the large amount of glare on the right side of the image. $40.

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MIRO, 28x18, 4 July 1990, Vence. (some upper right corner wear) 40.

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CHRIS, 19X27, 18 June 1981, Galerie de la Concorde, Paris, 35.

GEORGES BRAQUE, 32x18, Fondation Maeght, Vence, 40.

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DUFOUR, 24X36, 1980 (?), Galerie Beaubourg, Paris, $50.

VILLEGLE, 24x36, 1982 (?), Galerie Beaubourg, Paris, $50.

C. VENARD, 18X27, 5 Nov. 1981, Galerie Felix Vercel, Paris, $75.

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JEAN MESSAGIER,22X28, 29 May 1975, Galerie Beaubourg, Paris, $75.

PAUL GAUGUIN, 27X19, Oct. 1981, Musee Marmottan, Paris, $75.

RAOUL DUFY, 27X19, June 1981, Galerie Louis Carre, $100. sorry for blurred image

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ERRO, 19X27, 29 Oct 1977, Galerie Beaubourg, Paris, (This is the famous "Programme Spatial" exhibit of the fall of 1977, $50.

HUNDERTWASSER, 30X16, Galerie Paul Facchetti, Paris, one horizontal crease two inches from the top of the poster, $20.

STEPHANIE BARBA, 19X27, 16 March 1981, CIMAISES VENTADOUR, excuse blurred image, $30.

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ZAO WOU-KI, 16x23, 21 Feb. 1979, Bibliotheque National, PARIS, 40.

ZAO WOU-KI, 20X34, 4 July 1979, Galerie de France, Paris, one horizontal fold below image, $35.

"REVE ET REALITE", 19X27, 9 JULY 1981, Galerie de la Concorde, Paris, 35.

MATISSE, 1965, CREOLE DANCERS, $1800.

NOT A GALLERY POSTER, BUT ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS PUBLICITY POSTERS BY THE FRENCH ARTIST, GUY GEORGET, 24X36". $450.

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