Michelle Belle Tumbles 5 - Spring

image; bundesbahn, andrian, 1961; michelle belle for galerie montmartre

On the first day of Spring in the Southern Hemisphere, this post from our tumbling assistant, Michelle Belle, seems quite fitting. Not so much a lesson in vintage poster art, more an ode to this wonderful, wonderful season. New beginnings and all that, makes sense given the Galmont story over the past two months with L'Homme taken so very ill....but now on his way back home in a month or so to start life afresh with us all - Welcome Spring!

With a beautiful image like this, who wouldn’t want to “Travel in the Springtime with the German Federal Railroad”. All the signs of Spring are here. Blue skies, blossoming flowers, tweeting birdies. Which reminds me of a little ditty my dad loves to sing at this time of year….
The spring has sprung, the grass is riz
I wonder where the birdies is?
The bird is on the wing
But that’s absurd
I always thought the wing was on the bird!

Guest Post; Michelle Belle Tumbles 4

Derouet and Fromentier, Jus D’Orange, printed c. 1960; stephan t for galerie montmartre
So, MB has decided that the colour orange is the focus on our tumblr blog this week. She thinks it's a little indecisive....just like our country's voting efforts, where we all dashed off to the polls this last Saturday and still don't know who will be leading our country!

Time for some vitamin C to get us moving....take it over from here Ms. Belle...

An orange juice in the morning… a day full of spirit and vigour. Yes please! This fellow springs straight from his bed to his Jus D’Orange, no time to even change from his striped pyjamas.
Edgard Derouet (1905-2001) and Paul Fromentier (1914-1981) teamed up to create a number of poster designs in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. And what a team they made! The contrast in colour, the movement, and the ORANGE-ness of the juicy orange…. BEAUTIFUL!

Michelle Belle's Guest Posterama!

image; galerie fricker, paul colin (hand signed), 1971; stephan t for galerie montmartre

Not only is Michelle Belle, our assistant extraordinaire, guest blogging on The Design Files all week - be sure to check out her out over there today...it's a tiny taste of vicarious retail therapy - but every Wednesday I include one of her posts from our Tumblr site. Quite frankly, this blog has turned into way too much of what la Femme is into, so we started another one that is authored by the Gen Y Wonder which is totally vintage poster focused and I love it!

Today's post is about two creative talents in two very different fields, both divinely determined and talented during one of my favourite eras.


One of the masters of Art Deco graphic design, Paul Colin (1892-1985) produced over 1900 posters, plus hundreds of book covers, theater sets and costumes. Inspired by Cubism and Surrealism, his designs were perfectly suited to the Jazz Age. Bold colours, geometric shapes and caricatured figures practically dance of the page.
Colin is best known for his work for La Revue Negre, a French troupe of musicians and performers, including the then little known Josephine Baker. Together they took Paris by storm, Josephine with her sensational ‘banana dance’, Colin with his colourful lithographic posters celebrating the energy and allure of this bewitching woman.
Using an image designed for La Revue Negre in 1925, this exhibition poster is seductive, sexy and simply irresistible. Jazz singers in the front, Baker swinging those famous hips up the back, we can only imagine the visual impact of a room of such designs. And oh to be there, among the glitz and glamor of the Jazz Age. I can tell you, I would be dancing the Charleston till the wee hours on the streets of gay 1920s Paris.

Guest Post; Michelle Belle Tumbles 3

image; Michel Quarez, Quarez Affiches printed 2009

I'm so proud of our little assistant extraordinaire, this blog she is writing is exceptional in it's content, knowledge and personality. Today Michelle Belle tells us about a posterist who we adore at Galerie Montmartre; he's a true contemporary poster artist.

Ahem, while the French continue to respect this medium, then I will always have a job...

Read on to learn of the modern master;

Just to prove to you this whole poster thing ain’t a thing of the past, today I want to show you a newie. The French still take great pleasure in the the design, production and practice of great poster art. Le Boss always bangs on about how even today there are posters all over Paris, and a recent trip there proved him right. In the metro, on bus shelters, in specially designed light boxes on the street, on walls, on buses, small format pamphlets etc, etc, etc. EVERYWHERE. The French still respect the poster. And the French still love their own poster artists.
Case in point: Michel Quarez. His style is unmistakably modern. Graffiti-style lines, bright fluro colours, kids in backwards caps and high-top sneakers. From gay rights to football, tourism to theater, Quarez has applied his unmistakable brush to it all. With posters from the 1990s to today, this is a thoroughly modern poster artist.
This poster was created for the 2009-10 retrospective exhibition at the Bibliotheque Forney in Paris. Another gallery devoted to posters, you can check out the exhibition on you tube. Damn lucky those Parisians are. Beautiful posters everywhere!

Guest Post; Michelle Belle Tumbles 2

image; agis punsch, buhler; 1949 by stephan t for galmont

Our assistant extraordinaire is on tumblr, every week I share one of her posts, because she is clever and insightful and loves vintage poster art...and gives away a little something of the Galerie Montmartre culture at the same time!

When it gets cold outside, I go for tea. For me there is nothing better than wrapping my hands around a big, hot mug of strong, milky tea. No teacup, no saucer, no fancy flavours, just a simple teabag of black tea in a sizable mug is super. Everyone at Galmont has their favourite warmer-upper. Shelley T, she goes for a steaming hot chocolate, Le Boss a short black with one sugar, Sir James a creamy latte, Lady Diane a strong latte, no sugar required (she’s sweet enough).

And how about this towering polar bear here? Why, he goes for Agis Punch, with Vitamin C of course. If anyone knows about warming it must be our arctic friends, and boy does this steaming glass look good. You can just see his little paws just itching to reach out for his fix. No head colds for him this winter.

Fritz Buhler (1909 - 1963) was one of the leading poster artists of Switzerland from the 30s to the 60s, the director of his own graphic design studio in Basel and creator of many successful advertising campaigns. Most importantly, he was a founding father of the Aliance Graphique Internationale, an association of the world’s leading graphic artists and designers that was begun in 1951 and continues today. So from a clear headed artist to a clear headed furry mammal, let us raise our mug, tea cup, thermos, latte glasse and jumbo take-awayand say ‘Sante!’ to the hot drink this Winter.

Michelle Belle Tumbles 1

image; Gardez la France Propre by Raymond Savignac, 1982. 117 X 160cms.

Today is the first of our tumblr series written by Michelle Belle. And as we all have L'Homme on our minds, I thought it was fitting that we started with a post regarding him and one of our favourite French poster artists.

MB has really got into the tumbling life, posting every week day....puts this Femme to shame...

Anyway, enjoy!

On a recent trip to Paris, Le Boss spotted this poster and had to have it. A devout Savignac fan, it was one he had not yet had in the gallery. Sacre bleu! How could this happen? A purchase was obligatory. This humorous image embodies all that made Savignac the master of the French advertising poster from the late 1940s right up until his death in 2002. A clever image, abundant colour, minimal text and a uniquely kooky sense of humor all come together to produce a poster that is both distinctly French and instantly memorable.
Check out this terrific image above. The national symbol of France, le coq (chicken) is imploring the poor little porc (pig) to ‘Gardez La France Propre’, to keep France clean. Only Savignac could take an appeal from the National Agency of Waste Disposal to the French people to look after their country and inject it with such lightheartedness and humor.
So from the streets of France in 1982 to the walls of Galerie Montmartre in 2010, we have another wonderful Savignac poster in our collection. Bravo Le Boss, BRAVO!

We'll Tumble For Ya!

image; michelle belle for galerie montmartre

It has been all systems go here at Galmont despite the personal and professional upheaval that occurred on June 22nd. Our doors have remained open and vintage poster lovers from far and wide have come. Yes, L'Homme (who incidentally is now on the short list for rehab, clearly making inroads!!) has much to be proud of, but something he should really be thrilled about is the way our gorgeous little assistant, Michelle Belle, has stepped up and grabbed hold of her opportunity to truly shine. She is gleaming with efficiency, knowledge and expertise.

We have been working at getting a new blog together, one that highlights a little less of what Femme de M likes and a little more Galerie Montmartre - Vintage Original Poster - based. So I thought we'd grab hold of that Gen Y enthusiasm and give Michelle Belle her own blogging guernsey and what a fine job she's doing. To remind you of how clever she is, I'll be re-posting a tumblr post every Wednesday here at Femme de M.

So if you are a lover of vintage poster art, Galerie Montmartre or a spy (we know you're out there!!), then time to jump on board the latest addition to the Galmont Cyber Funfest.

Yes indeed friends, we'll tumble for ya - galeriemontmartre(dot)tumblr(dot)com.

And check out the snippet below, Michelle Belle's loyalty knows no bounds, to the point where the very first week of setting up Galmont's brand new tumblr site, she devoted all five posts to L'Homme himself!

Co-owner, director and all round big cheese at Galerie Montmartre is Stephan Trbuhovich, aka Le Boss. He has the knowledge, the passion and the energy that has turned Galerie Montmartre into the superbly successful poster gallery it is today.....And whilst he does not have the singing voice, the dance moves or the funny jokes he might believe, what he does have is in spades is a tremendous ability to find exceptional posters. On a recent buying trip to France, I was lucky enough to see ‘the eye’ (as he sometimes refers to himself) in action. And you know what, this bloke, he knows his stuff. So, in honor of Le Boss, his personal favourites are the week one theme. These are the posters that got Le Boss all a flutter in France….