Plain language summary: Cuteness, Conservatism, & Consumption: Lefor-Openo and Postwar France

 

This is what you see in this exhibition:

 Poster House is showing posters made by a French female design team called Lefor-Openo. The posters document culture, politics, and society in France after World War II (1939–1945).

The exhibition is called Cuteness, Conservatism, & Consumption: Lefor-Openo and Postwar France.

It displays more than 70 posters and pieces of ephemera made between 1955 and 1968. Ephemera means items like postcards and stamps that were originally meant to be thrown away but are sometimes collected as special historical objects.

Lefor-Openo is the professional nickname for the artists Marie-Claire Lefort and Marie-Francine Oppeneau when they worked together. The two women met at art school and soon began working together. Their collaborative poster design studio lasted 12 years. In 1950s France it was very unusual for women to choose careers in design.

The French economy suffered because of World War II. Farms and industry had been destroyed and public morale was low. In the 30 years after the war, many changes and improvements came to France. The posters in this exhibition were made during this time, known as “Les Trente Glorieuses” or The Thirty Glorious Years. As president, general Charles de Gaulle was responsible for many of these changes.

The posters in this exhibition were shown in the streets of France and other public advertising spaces. They encouraged citizens to vote, buy National Lottery tickets, and adopt a new money system. These modern and cheerful posters highlight the joys of access to affordable electricity and new household appliances like refrigerators and water heaters.

The posters by Lefor-Openo are characterized by bright colors and smiling people. The artwork promotes an optimistic view of French politics and society. This view was sometimes in contrast to how it actually felt to live in France through decades of change.

Lefor-Openo’s designs illustrated French society as it wanted to be seen.

The exhibition has many important works, including:

• Loterie Nationale, 1956
• Oui à la France, 1958
• Vichy, c. 1958
• Gitanes, 1961
• Confiance en la France/Confiance en De Gaulle, 1965

Poster House is the first and only poster museum in the United States.

This exhibition is accompanied by the first English-language book about Lefor-Openo.