“In the past two years a great current of sympathy and interest in ethnography has arisen in France,” this museum declared in its Bulletin as it opened new rooms—the occasion for which Colin created this poster. To his powerful, brooding image of an Easter Island menhir belonging to the museum, Colin added a mask from his own collection, lending a not unfitting touch of comic theatricality: after all, the Trocadero housed both the Ethnographic Museum and the Théâtre Nationale Populaire—much as Colin’s own interests embraced both popular entertainment and “serious” culture. “Colin immediately saw the potential in such singular forms, and reinforced it in the play of planes and by representing the head in profile and the mask face-on” (Affiche Réclame, p. 140).
Imp. Joseph Charles, Paris
literature: PAI-XC, 231 (var)
This work will ship from Lambertville, New Jersey.
