Lot 14: Semaine Coloniale Francaise.

Semaine Coloniale Francaise.
EMILE BEAUME (1888-1967)
Imp. Bedos, Paris
Cond A-/Slight tears at folds.
Between 1920 and 1930, the French colonial empire had amassed a total amount of 4,980,000 square miles-a staggering 8.6% of the world's total land area. And though this global dominion would end in conflict and brutality, the hallmark of the French colonial project in the late-Nineteenth/early-Twentieth Century was the "civilizing mission" (mission civilisatrice), a well-intended principle that put forth the notion that it was Europe's duty to bring civilization to its benighted peoples. It's in that spirit that Beaume created this poster for a 1927 celebratory colonial week, a design that exudes prosperity, well-being and indigenous civility. An oft-decorated painter, Beaume began exhibiting at the Salon des Artistes Francais in 1909.
1927
46 3/4 x 61 3/4 in./118.7 x 156.8 cm