A.M. Cassandre – Le Jour dit la vérité, c. 1933 (enamel advertising plaque)

A. M. Cassandre (1901-1968)

Le Jour dit la vérité, c. 1933

Enamel advertising plaque

Advertising object after a design by A.M. Cassandre

Dimensions: 30 × 39 cm (11.8 × 15.4 in.)

Condition: Poor (heavily distressed) condition — extensive enamel losses with rust and oxidation of the exposed metal, most pronounced at the upper-left corner and along all four edges; chips and losses affecting the upper sky and part of the lettering; general scratching and staining. Pierced with mounting holes at the corners. Composition and all lettering remain fully legible. Unframed.

References: Advertising plaque by A.M. Cassandre for the launch of the daily Le Jour (dir. Léon Bailby), 1933. Literature: H. Mouron, A.M. Cassandre, 1985 (precise reference for this plaque to be verified). Market comparable: an example of the same model, Salorges Enchères, Nantes, 26 Oct. 2013 (est. €600–800).

Created for the launch of Léon Bailby’s nationalist daily Le Jour (first issue 3 October 1933), this enamel sign is one of the rare advertising objects designed by A.M. Cassandre, the foremost poster artist of the inter-war years (Étoile du Nord, Nord Express, Dubonnet, Normandie). The composition centres on a stylised solar eclipse — a dark sphere ringed with planetary orbits and stars, masking a radiant white sun whose ochre rays spread across a deep blue, airbrush-graded sky. Above, the title Le Jour is set in Cassandre’s signature geometric capitals over the line “Directeur Léon Bailby”; below, the slogan “Dit la vérité” and, lower right, “En vente ici.” The eclipse-and-light imagery works as a visual metaphor — day breaking, truth brought to light — translating Cassandre’s airbrushed modernism into vitreous enamel. Point-of-sale plaques of this design were displayed by newspaper vendors across France.