Paul-Jean-Louis Gervais, 'Poppies'
1900 / 1901
(French, 1859 – 1944)
Oil on canvas
Signed ‘P GERVAIS’ (lower right)
24 x 18.1/8 in. (61 x 46.2 cm.)
Paul Gervais was one of the most highly regarded painters of the female form in the late 19th Century but this is one of his most famous images as it was used in the advertising campaign for job cigarettes in 1901 in their poster designs alongside other artist’s of the period including Alphonse Mucha.
Gervais was commissioned multiple times, with major graphic artists such as Alfons Mucha (see below), Ramon Casas, Manuel Orazi, Edgar Maxence, Jules Chéret and Armand Rassenfosse who illustrated one or several posters for JOB. Gervais was particularly admired by the Bardou family who owned JOB, so much so that the artist was entrusted with the decoration of the family’s mansion in Perpignan. He was much in demand as a muralist by the great and the good at the time.
As with Gervais’ painting, the most frequently utilised imagery by JOB depicted a voguish female seductively holding a cigarette. These images suggested a certain independence, liberty and sophistication, challenging the widely held view at the time that females who smoked were either low-lives and criminals or, if of the upper classes, then eccentrics and feminists. JOB’s publicity campaigns were wildly successful and marked the company out as a modern brand.
Gervais was born in Toulouse and studied at the academy there before moving to Paris, enrolling at the Beaux-Arts under Jean-Léon Gérôme. A fashionable artist in his day, Gervais can be considered an important exponent of a late academic style, his paintings symbolising the virtues of civilisation and love through the depiction of nubile beauties . Gervais exhibited regularly at the Salon and was appointed professor of the École de Beaux-Arts in 1904. In 1908 he won the Legion d’Honneur.
1900 / 1901
(French, 1859 – 1944)
Oil on canvas
Signed ‘P GERVAIS’ (lower right)
24 x 18.1/8 in. (61 x 46.2 cm.)
Paul Gervais was one of the most highly regarded painters of the female form in the late 19th Century but this is one of his most famous images as it was used in the advertising campaign for job cigarettes in 1901 in their poster designs alongside other artist’s of the period including Alphonse Mucha.
Gervais was commissioned multiple times, with major graphic artists such as Alfons Mucha (see below), Ramon Casas, Manuel Orazi, Edgar Maxence, Jules Chéret and Armand Rassenfosse who illustrated one or several posters for JOB. Gervais was particularly admired by the Bardou family who owned JOB, so much so that the artist was entrusted with the decoration of the family’s mansion in Perpignan. He was much in demand as a muralist by the great and the good at the time.
As with Gervais’ painting, the most frequently utilised imagery by JOB depicted a voguish female seductively holding a cigarette. These images suggested a certain independence, liberty and sophistication, challenging the widely held view at the time that females who smoked were either low-lives and criminals or, if of the upper classes, then eccentrics and feminists. JOB’s publicity campaigns were wildly successful and marked the company out as a modern brand.
Gervais was born in Toulouse and studied at the academy there before moving to Paris, enrolling at the Beaux-Arts under Jean-Léon Gérôme. A fashionable artist in his day, Gervais can be considered an important exponent of a late academic style, his paintings symbolising the virtues of civilisation and love through the depiction of nubile beauties . Gervais exhibited regularly at the Salon and was appointed professor of the École de Beaux-Arts in 1904. In 1908 he won the Legion d’Honneur.
1900 / 1901
(French, 1859 – 1944)
Oil on canvas
Signed ‘P GERVAIS’ (lower right)
24 x 18.1/8 in. (61 x 46.2 cm.)
Paul Gervais was one of the most highly regarded painters of the female form in the late 19th Century but this is one of his most famous images as it was used in the advertising campaign for job cigarettes in 1901 in their poster designs alongside other artist’s of the period including Alphonse Mucha.
Gervais was commissioned multiple times, with major graphic artists such as Alfons Mucha (see below), Ramon Casas, Manuel Orazi, Edgar Maxence, Jules Chéret and Armand Rassenfosse who illustrated one or several posters for JOB. Gervais was particularly admired by the Bardou family who owned JOB, so much so that the artist was entrusted with the decoration of the family’s mansion in Perpignan. He was much in demand as a muralist by the great and the good at the time.
As with Gervais’ painting, the most frequently utilised imagery by JOB depicted a voguish female seductively holding a cigarette. These images suggested a certain independence, liberty and sophistication, challenging the widely held view at the time that females who smoked were either low-lives and criminals or, if of the upper classes, then eccentrics and feminists. JOB’s publicity campaigns were wildly successful and marked the company out as a modern brand.
Gervais was born in Toulouse and studied at the academy there before moving to Paris, enrolling at the Beaux-Arts under Jean-Léon Gérôme. A fashionable artist in his day, Gervais can be considered an important exponent of a late academic style, his paintings symbolising the virtues of civilisation and love through the depiction of nubile beauties . Gervais exhibited regularly at the Salon and was appointed professor of the École de Beaux-Arts in 1904. In 1908 he won the Legion d’Honneur.
