Date: 1930s
Size: 47 x 70 inches
Artist: Bouisset, Firmin
Firmin Bouisset was a French painter, poster artist, and printmaker. He was born to a working-class family in the town of Moissac in the Tarn-et-Garonne département in southwestern France. As an artist, Firmin Bouisset specialized in painting children subjects and did a number of illustrated books such as La Petite Ménagère (The Little Housekeeper) in 1890. At a time when posters were a popular form of advertising, Bouisset created posters with enduring images for a number of different French food companies such as Maggi and Lefevre-Utile Biscuit Co.
For the latter company, he used their LU initials as an ad logo as part of an 1897 poster image for a line of butter cookies featuring "The Little Schoolboy" (French: Petit Ecolier) of which a variation is still being used by the company today. The poster became a classic, and this particular massive poster is a rare and impressive piece of the company's history.