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Broders’ posters can be admired on several levels. Aesthetically, they are well-composed, colorful, appealing
to the eye and evocative of certain times and places. But they are far from simple images. To look at
his posters from a graphic design point-of-view is to see how he skillfully divides his compositions
into planes of depth, with pronounced fore, middle and backgrounds, and also to recognize the great
interplay between the colors and how he handles them along with light and shade to accentuate and
delineate areas of the image.
This catalogue has been organized by printing date, in as close to the posters’ chronological order that
they we were able to determine. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the artist’s work has been
presented in such a manner, and as such, it makes it possible to follow the linear progression of his
artistic development. It also made it possible for us to more accurately date certain posters based on
their appearance.
It is interesting to note that there are not definitive records of the publication date of all his images. In
some instances the posters actually bear the date of their issue, in other instances we draw on additional
facts to help date a piece. Specifically, we know that from 1920-1925 Broders’ signature is much more
cursive, and after 1925 he signed his name in block letters. We also know that in 1929, Lucien Serre,
Broders’ printer, expanded his printing operations by moving into neighboring buildings.
Consequently, posters printed after 1929 have a different address imprinted on them.
The chronological arrangement of Broders’ posters also poses questions about the artist’s work,
reminding us that for all of his prominence as a poster designer, very little is known of Broders himself.
We notice, for example, that only one of his posters is definitively dated 1924, and also that in certain
years he designed substantially more posters than in others.
On a more esoteric level, in putting this auction together we realized that throughout Broders’ work
for the PLM Railway, the company’s name and logo (of which there are four variations) never appear
together on the same poster.
The end of Broders’ career is shrouded in mystery. He continued illustrating books through the mid-1950s
but is not known to have designed any posters after 1935.
In 1938, all of the French railroad companies were merged into the Societé Nationale des Chemins
de Fers, the S.N.C.F. It is hard to understand, even with the demise of the PLM, why a man of
Broders’ talents and popularity would simply stop designing posters in 1935.
Of all the popular, prolific French Art Deco travel poster artists working in the 1920s and 30s, such as
Pierre Commarmond, Roger Soubie and Julien Lacaze, none have achieved the same level of recognition as
Broders. His style grew symbiotically along with the Art Deco movement and became, in its own
right, a style associated with the time. His posters not only reflect the era but also, in large part, help
us define it.
Nicholas D. Lowry
Director, Vintage Posters