JEAN CARLU

Jean Carlu was a French graphic designer who specialized in posters from the 1910 to the 1990s. He started his career as a professional poster-designer in 1919, and from 1919 until 1921 he served as an illustrator, after which he worked at an agency that designed advertisements. Carlu was one of the first who realized that to fix a trademark in the minds of consumers, a process needs to be applied in which schematic forms and expressive colors are used. These are the characteristics that give his posters and other works their distinguishable quality. In the 1930s during the height of the French Art Deco movement, there were 3 designers that really stood out, Cassandre, Paul Colin and Jean Carlu. During the early part of the World War II (WWII), Carlu came to America to visit his brother. During that visit, Germany invaded France and captured Paris. Anxious to contribute to the war effort that now included his home country, he created two poster designs for the U.S. war department. The first was called "Production. America's Answer!" and the second was "Give em Both Barrels". Both posters are part of the collections of The Museum of Modern Art and The American War Museum. He passed away at the are of 97 in 1997.