1905 Original French Advertising Carton - Petit Beurre Lu (Children Looking Into Store Window)

Description

Date: 1905
Size: 20.5 x 26.75 inches
Artist: Bocchino

About The Poster: Lefèvre-Utile was founded in Nantes, France, in 1846 … more Date: 1905
Size: 20.5 x 26.75 inches
Artist: Bocchino

About The Poster: Lefèvre-Utile was founded in Nantes, France, in 1846 by Jean-Romain Lefèvre and his business partner and wife, Pauline-Isabelle Utile. Their initials (LU) were first used by Alfons Mucha for an 1897 calendar ad for the Lefèvre-Utile Biscuit Co. That same year the company hired Firmin Bouisset to create a poster for their rectangular-shaped crested biscuits. Bouisset created Petit Écolier ("the Little Schoolboy") which also incorporated the LU initials. Bouisset's poster was used extensively and the image was embossed on the company's Petit Beurre line of biscuits.

The company also hired other artists, like Bocchino, to create iconic images that were used to advertise sweets not only to the parents who bought cookies, macaroons and other biscuits but also to children, like those pictured in this well-known and well-loved image.

Within a few years, the success of the logo resulted in the company becoming known as LU. (Notwithstanding the humble beginnings of LU, the company, now owned by a large multi-national, sells in excess of $2 billion USD every year - that's a whole lot of cookies!)

This carton was brought into the gallery by the great-great-grandson of the original Lefevre-Utile family, so the provenance of the piece could not be better. Rare and collectible. less