Histoire du graphisme en France, 1500-2020

“France has been one of the poles of the emergence of graphic design and a host to its worldwide expressions, but no book to date has traced the course of graphic design in France. This book presents creations from 1500 to the present day in the most diverse fields, from posters and books to multimedia, highlighting the links with the plastic arts, architecture, design, photography, cinema and comics. This history, which is very rich in external contributions, gives it a certain universality, while at the same time highlighting the relative aesthetic isolation of the various French players. Graphic design associated with architecture, design and the performing arts is far from being a dominant idea in France (with the exception of Le Corbusier). On the other hand, the natural influence of Paris in the inter-war period made the panorama abundant, like the great international exhibitions that punctuated the artistic landscape from the 1920s onwards, and which provided fertile ground for the emergence of original and free writing. A style that was sublimated during the following decades.”