Huile de la Croix Verte 1925

This striking original advertising poster created in 1925 by the celebrated French designer A.M. Cassandre promotes "Huile de la Croix Verte", a Bordeaux-produced edible oil marketed under the banner of the Grande Huilerie Bordelaise.

Produced during the golden age of French graphic design, the poster is a remarkable example of Cassandre's pioneering contribution to the Art Deco movement, demonstrating the geometric precision, visual clarity and bold colour contrasts that would establish him as one of the twentieth century's greatest poster artists.

The composition is built around a powerful green cross motif that immediately identifies the product's name while structuring the entire image with architectural precision. Against a deep black background framed by a vibrant blue border, Cassandre arranges simple objects—a bottle of oil, a wine glass and a rolled table napkin—into a sophisticated still life that transforms an everyday consumer product into an object of elegance and modernity.

The typography itself becomes an integral element of the design. The words "Croix Verte" intersect and overlap with the central green cross, creating a dynamic visual rhythm characteristic of Cassandre's innovative approach to advertising graphics. Rather than merely illustrating the product, the artist constructs an image in which lettering and imagery become inseparable.

Cassandre was a master of reducing forms to their essential geometry, a philosophy strongly influenced by Cubism, Constructivism and the machine aesthetics of the interwar period. This poster perfectly reflects that approach through its use of flat colour planes, stylised forms and carefully balanced proportions.

At the time of its creation, Cassandre was revolutionising commercial poster design with works for major brands such as Dubonnet, Nord Express, L'Intransigeant and the famous Normandie ocean liner. His advertisements transformed public posters into works of modern art and established new standards for visual communication throughout Europe.

The elegant arrangement of the dining elements subtly associates the oil with refinement, gastronomy and the celebrated culinary traditions of southwestern France, while the restrained palette of green, blue, black and cream reinforces the poster's distinctly modern character.

Today, original Cassandre posters are among the most sought-after works in the field of twentieth-century graphic design, prized equally by collectors of Art Deco, advertising history and modernist design.

Combining typographic innovation, geometric sophistication and timeless elegance, "Huile de la Croix Verte" remains an exceptional example of Cassandre's genius and of French Art Deco advertising at its very finest.

Original Poster

Gastronomy - Art deco -Advertising

Grande Huilerie Bordelaise - Gironde

Very good state