Franklin Gothic Extra Condensed. .... First edition of the poster.

New York: the Composing Room Inc., circa 1960s. Letterpress on iridescent paper. Discolored with marginal tear. 61 x 43.5cm.... Provenance: from the estate of Raymond Gid who died Sunday November 12, 2000 in Paris. Born on November 25, 1905, Raymond Gid became first known through his posters, after having studied at les Beaux-Arts. As a film enthusiast, he designed many movie posters, for example Vampyr de Dreyer (photomontage, 1932), Le Silence de la mer by Melville (1949), Les Diaboliques by Clouzot (1955). But a meeting with Guy Levis Mano (editions GLM), editor and typographer, soon directed Gid towards the book. In 1935, he publishes, together with the photographer Pierre Jahan Devot Christ de Perpignan and Chats, Chiens by Ylla. It is an intensive period of his life period: he meets Dufy, Corbusier, Hake, Lurcat and receives the gold medal for a poster at the International exhibition of Paris (1937). He reacts to the Civil War in Spain with a poster " Help to the civil populations ". Together With Father Carre, « bete-a-bon-Dieu » of the Resistance, Raymond Gid began to design liturgical texts. Apocalypse Six (an extract of the biblical text of Saint John) appeard after the war. It is one of his major works, composed in the Peignot typeface, which was designed by Cassandre in 1937. He designs several post-war period posters, for example Week of absent, a simple Lorraine cross surrounded by barbed wire on a dark background. Right from the beginning of the symposiums in Lure (Provence) in 1954, Raymond Gid participates in discussions on typography, particularly with Maximilen Vox, Charles Peignot, Roger Excoffon. Raymond Gid puts on page and illustrates the Dialogues of the Carmelite nuns by Bernanos (1954), then some pages in Caractere Noel 1955, dedicated to his friend Jan van Krimpen, the creator of dutch type faces. He plays with the breathing of the text, in the manner of Mallarme, as in his Book of hours (1959) or his Apocalypse (1964), adapting medieval text to present day tastes. He also designs posters like those for the Club Mediterranee (1961), Bally (1976) or, heavier fare, like that of Amnesty International (1973). During his whole life, Raymond Gid remained attached to the typographical arts. He liked to try out new characters in his compositions, mixing them with his very free drawings, as for example in Messidor published by the Imprimerie nationale (1989).. Jean-Francois Porchez, type designer; translated from french by Babelfish and cleaned up a bit. Links Art and Poster Bally posters Chicago Center for the Print Bally posters Poster Auctions International, New York Catalogue from the personal exhibition at the Bibliotheque Forney, Paris, in 1992.