JOB Collection

The JOB collection is a production of graphic works consisting of calendars, posters and postcards advertising the JOB rolling paper factory. Artistic in character, it was illustrated by renowned painters and poster artists, mainly during the Art Nouveau period.
The owners of the JOB brand, grandchildren and allies of founder Jean Bardou, were industrialists and patrons of the arts. From 1895 until the Great War they enlisted the help of numerous artists, often their close friends, to advertise cigarette paper. Painters and illustrators representing the main artistic currents of the time, from academic painter Paul Jean Gervais to Catalan Modernist Ramon Casas, from orientalist Georges Rochegrosse to Montmartre humorist Charles Léandre, as well as Jane Atché, all contributed. This collection of 32 works became known to the general public through calendar and poster prints, and was widely distributed as postcards in France and abroad. Alphonse Mucha's two most famous productions, La femme blonde and La femme brune, were a huge success and are still highly sought-after by collectors today.
Alongside this well-referenced production, other works do not benefit from the widespread distribution offered by the postcard, either because they remained at the sketch stage, such as the soldiers imagined by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, or because they were only the subject of rare posters, such as the Spanish ones by Gaspar Camps. Recent biographies of the artists and the poster collections held in museums allow us to attempt to reconstruct the completeness of the collection up to the 1920s, when creation became very sporadic. Later, artists influenced by JOB and Art Nouveau revived certain posters. In the 1960s, a JOB poster by Mucha was reinterpreted with a psychedelic effect, and in 2008, Stuck artist Paul Harvey proposed a new version of the brand's advertising posters.
The JOB collection is a significant example of the "marriage of Art and Industry", one of the foundations of Art Nouveau, in the field of graphic arts.
Around 1900 Art Nouveau and postcards were at their peak. It was a period of fundamental renewal for the arts; nature and the flower-woman were, like Japonisme, a source of inspiration for artists.
Painters, even the glories of academicism, were not reluctant to take part in the many poster and postcard competitions that were published in large numbers: Lefèvre-Utile, La Meuse, Nestlé, Byrrh... Thousands of posters of cartoonist Jules Chéret's famous Chérette, ancestor of the Pin-up, covered the walls of Paris, paving the way for Alphonse Mucha and the many painters whose main source of inspiration was women.
Based on artists' designs, printers used the chromolithography reproduction process, a four-color printing technique developed in 1839 by Godefroy Engelmann. The use of the three primary colors (blue, yellow, red), to which black is added, makes it possible to obtain all possible shades and nuances.
Thanks to this collaboration Art Nouveau was democratized through small-format reproductions on paper, and entered every household. Artistic advertising and postcards illustrated the vocation of Art Nouveau, intended as "art for all" and a marriage of Art and Industry. Even if, for Paul Éluard, they represented only "the small currency of art", they "sometimes give the idea of gold".
Products such as cigarette rolling papers were promoted through advertising and catchwords: people bought what they saw, better than what they thought they saw. Such was the case with advertisements for the Bardou family's JOB cigarette paper.
In the second half of the 19th century Pierre Bardou-Job turned the cigarette-paper manufacturing workshops created by his father Jean Bardou into a large-scale factory. A wealthy industrialist and sponsor of the arts, part of his estate consisted of art collections. After his death in 1892, his three children, Camille, Justin and Jeanne, formed the Pierre Bardou-Job company in memory of their father. It was formed by Justin Bardou-Job, Charles Ducup de St Paul, Camille's husband, and Jules Pams, Jeanne's husband. As evidence of this period, there is a gouache advertising project by Alfons Mucha showing a variant of La Femme Blonde, dressed in blue on a black background, with the word JOB inscribed in red in the background. Above the drawing is the name Pierre Bardou-Job, the address of the Perpignan head office and below that of a Toulouse operator.
The Bardou family and their allies, in particular the Pams and Ducup de Saint Paul families, were astute industrialists but also patrons of the arts with refined tastes, asking their artist friends to illustrate the cigarette paper company's products with advertisements. Relations between this family and renowned painters were close: Georges de Feure spent his vacations with the Bardou-Pams family, and Paul Jean Gervais and Alphonse Mucha were close friends. What's more, Edgar Maxence's 1901 calendar, La femme rousse à l'orchidée, a Symbolist painting whose original is in the Musée d'Orsay, is a portrait of Pierre Job-Bardou's daughter Jeanne.
In addition to Bouisset, Meunier, Chéret, and the already famous Mucha, they were able to enlist the help of numerous artists. In all some 30 painters and designers of first or second rank collaborated on the brand's advertising creations between 1895 and 1925.
Thanks to Art Nouveau art magazines, fairs and, above all, the many poster competitions, the artists became better known and commissions were received. In 1896, for example, a major exhibition of French and foreign posters was held in Reims, attended by the leading illustrators of the day. The 202-page catalog announced "a description of the 1,690 most beautiful posters (...) and portraits of 48 of the leading artists". Indeed, Alphonse Mucha worked alongside the young Jane Atché, Firmin Bouisset and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The latter's project was not retained, while Jane Atché's was taken over by the JOB company with a few modifications.
Between 1895 and 1916 thirty-two works, including those reproduced on postcards, were signed by the greatest names of the time. Most often published as calendars, they were reproduced on postcards from 1903, given their success, and were sold or given as end-of-year gifts to the brand's factory workers. Mucha's La Femme Blonde (1896) was a huge success, sold as a popular edition at 3 francs and as a deluxe edition. In addition to the paper prints, the illustrations were reproduced on various supports, such as tobacco or cigarette boxes in lithographed sheet metal. In addition to these 32 well-referenced pieces, there are some fifteen other creations, curiously under-referenced, such as the poster by Louis Vallet (circa 1900), the poster by Manuel Orazi (circa 1900) and at least two posters by Gaspar Camps (circa 1915), to name but a few well-known artists.
The recurring theme of the collection was women, often with cigarette in hand, whose wisps of smoke or background indicated that "she was smoking with JOB". The woman who smoked was certainly a liberated woman, but in the conservative society of the time it was not a sign of class. In his book France fin de siècle, Eugen Weber wrote that "women who smoked were low-class women or criminals", and in the 1890s, respectable women who smoked were considered "either eccentrics or feminists demanding gender equality". While Mucha's La Femme Blonde echoed this stereotype of a scatterbrained, half-closed-eyed woman intoxicated by frivolous pleasures, Jane Atché is considered one of the first artists to portray the JOB-smoking woman in a positive light, rather than as a light-hearted woman paving the way for many other female conquests.
Often scrupulously preserved in attics after the ephemeris had been used, calendars were forgotten after the war when fashions changed and past tragedies were erased from memory. Abandoned and often destroyed, some of them are now reappearing, in more or less good condition, for a second life. Sometimes, entire stacks are found in the stocks of former dealers. As skilled salesmen who were able to convince the customer that a print run of several thousand copies was "only slightly more expensive" than the one required, the representatives of the poster companies also unwittingly contributed to the longevity of the work. Throughout this time, it is also thanks to the many collectors trying to reconstitute the JOB collection that the memory has been preserved, all the more so as the cards generally bear the references of the calendar or poster they reproduce. So, for the most part, the memory has been preserved.
Famous painters and designers who contributed to the JOB collection:
Not to forget the unpublished projects: Soldat fumant sa pipe by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and a series of four smoking women by Georges de Feure.
Alongside these big names, other illustrators also contributed to the production of the collection:
Other illustrators include Cyprien Boulez, a portrait painter; Nguyen Duc Thuc; G. Maurice, possibly a pseudonym; and Félix Thuillière, a French military painter and academy officer who died in Toulouse in 1926.
Table sources
Calendars and posters were also widely used as postcards. Not all postcards have been inventoried, as they have never been found. In 1980, author and publisher Gérard Neudin estimated the number of postcards at "at least 84 from 31 drawings". The 32nd drawing corresponded to the 1916 calendar by painter Eugène Loup, listed by Italian author Carmello Calò Carducci in 1987. Finally, in 2001, the number of postcards was revised upwards, to around 126 for the major series (according to the table below), but this inventory remains theoretical, due to variations in certain editions. It has been established that 32 calendars and posters were the subject of postcards; cartophiles differentiate them into series. There are 5 main series up to 1914, and a rare "1916" series. The series are supposed to indicate the year in which the cards were printed, but to complicate matters, there may have been several editions of the same series, with some variations. Thus, while the 1903 and 1914 series are easily recognizable, the 1910 and especially the 1916 series are questionable.
This series included 12 postcards, all of which have now been found except for Meunier and Chéret. The postcards are horizontal, illustrated on the left-hand side and edged with a salmon-pink "Art Nouveau" motif. The motif also occupies the bottom of the right-hand side. A variant of this series is also reported with beige floral motifs. The postcards were labelled " Papier à cigarettes JOB " (JOB rolling paper). They are of excellent printing quality and relatively rare.
The series is called "1910", but was issued at least twice, around 1907–1908. In all likelihood, these series included 20 cards in the "A" series and 8 cards in the "B" series (calendar reproductions). The 1910 (A) series was printed horizontally, with the words "Collection JOB" (JOB collection), but no printer's mark or "cigarettes JOB" (JOB cigarettes) label. The background is squared. This series is available in two paper qualities: linen and smooth satin. Print quality is good on the rough paper, fair for those on the smooth satin paper. The 1910 (B) series is horizontal, and differs from the 1910 (A) series in that "lyon" is the name of the printer's town where the cards were produced by "Art couleurs".
This series most certainly included 24 postcards, i.e. all production up to 1911 except for Rassenfosse. The series is horizontal, marked "Collection JOB, cigarettes JOB" (JOB collection, cigarettes JOB) and has a squared background. Print quality is fair on rough backgrounds and good on cards with smooth backgrounds.
The 1914 series included all production up to 1914, i.e. 30 cards. The design is vertical here, and this is the only series where it occupies the entire surface of the card and not just one half. The lower third of the surface is marked "Collection JOB" (JOB collection). The divided reverse side is marked "postcard". The printing quality is very good.
This set included the entire series, i.e. 32 illustrations. This series is the rarest of all, and the print run must have been small. Logically, it is the only one to include the Hervé and Loup calendars, issued in 1915 and 1916 respectively. Little known and poorly referenced, this so-called "1916" series may in fact have been marketed only after the war. What's more, a few details in the descriptions differ and could point to the existence of 2 distinct print runs. Indeed, the cards are always horizontal, the left half is the same as the 1910 series, but the right side is described, depending on the source, as either "decorated with a single diamond, containing the word Job very stylized" or as being identical to the 1910 series. The paper is rough and the printing quality, acceptable. This series is said to be subject to certain peculiarities: the 1910 Gervais calendar was mistakenly dated 1911, and the text on the Ng Duc Thuc card was adapted.
This is the rare 1908 postcard published for the Franco-British Exhibition in London by JOB's London office. It's a reproduction of Mucha's calendar (Femme blonde).
There is a large-format vertical postcard from Cappiello, "JOB cigarette paper and cigarettes". The printing date of this card is not known with certainty (1914?). Some of Cappiello's postcards differ from the 1914 series in minor ways: no outline on the front, or no inscription on the reverse. This is linked to the period reprints of this "successful" card.
Just as there is a large-format, vertical Gervais 1905 calendar postcard dating from around 1914, it's difficult to be exhaustive, as postcard issues were undoubtedly made elsewhere, but very sporadically.
Each creation in the series was initially published as a calendar, and sometimes as a poster. The calendar was generally printed on cardboard, or at least on reinforced paper, with an ephemeris of the year notched into the cardboard, which has often been leafed through and disappeared. Posters were printed on paper, sometimes in deluxe editions.
The poster or calendar, at least the first print run, often included the advertising slogan "Smoke with JOB or don't smoke" in the language of the poster's destination, the "JOB" trademark, sometimes a reference to "out of competition, Paris 1889" (or 1900), and was often decorated with a harmonious border. The reference to the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1889 or 1900 indicated that the JOB brand was "out of competition", meaning it won a medal. This clarification is important, as biographers have sometimes believed that the date corresponded to a medal received by the artist himself.
Other prints followed without any mention, with only the decorative image; this was also the case for the proofs before the letter, often found in the collections of old printing works. The printer's mark was often present, especially for quality prints, often the former Cassan or Sirven artistic printers, both of which had branches in Toulouse and Paris. It's important to distinguish these vintage lithographic prints from the more recent offset reproductions that have been in vogue for the last ten years or so, and to bear in mind that these posters, which were intended for advertising purposes and are by no means cabinet prints, were often printed in different sizes and qualities in their day.
Here is a brief description of the works.
Other posters, which are rarely referenced and quoted, are listed here. As they were not printed on postcards, they do not benefit from the remarkable memory offered by this widely distributed medium, that of a widely collected image with the advantage of small format. A development on the comparison between postcard and poster collecting around 1900, specialized directories and postcard series devoted to posters (Cinos, Gérin, Job, Chemins de Fer posters). They are no less interesting, especially as they are sometimes the work of important illustrators.
Until 1914, calendar, poster and postcard editions were commonplace. They became rarer during the war, but continued nonetheless. In the inter-war period, posters were mainly used to promote products for exportation to the colonies.
By the 1930s, there was little to report, and collaboration with artists became the exception. Of note, however, is a typically Art Deco creation, "Cigarettes Job blanches" (White Job cigarettes), by Swiss engraver Noël Fontanet (1898–1982), and the 1933 reprint of Cappiello's Le pacha poster. The few rigorously geometric posters of the brand from the 1940s, though worthy of note, do not stand out from the mass of advertising of the period; they were often anonymous. In 1961, graphic designer and illustrator Donald Brun produced an advertising poster for the brand entitled Algérienne Job (Algerian Job).
JOB inspired artists such as Maurits Cornelis Escher with his 1943 reptile lithograph. After decades of disgrace, Art Nouveau returned to the forefront in the 1960s. In 1966, Alphonse Mucha's 1897 JOB poster was reinterpreted by Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley with a psychedelic effect. Printed in San Francisco, to advertise a rock concert. But in both cases, it was no longer an order from the JOB brand.
As elsewhere in the world, in the last quarter of the 20th century, the fight against smoking became a public health priority in France. The Veil law of 1976 and the Évin law of 1991 prohibited all direct or indirect advertising for tobacco and tobacco products. These measures could have put a stop to tobacco advertising, but the brand's artistic creations had already fallen into disuse at a time of serious financial difficulties.
Nevertheless, in 2008, JOB asked British punk musician, painter and stuckist Paul Harvey, an artist inspired by Art Nouveau, to update the brand's advertising posters. The result was a series of Famous Doubles posters, a commercial reference to the JOB factory's double packs. Gilbert and George supported this graphic creation, unlike other artist duos, The Mighty Boosh or The White Stripes, who appeared on the poster projects without their agreement. Famous Doubles were exhibited at Wanted Gallery, a contemporary art gallery in Notting Hill, London, in 2009. The posters featured both real and imaginary characters, with no direct allusion to the brand except through collective memory. Thus, in a very Art Nouveau setting featuring Edgar Maxence's 1903 calendar frieze, and in a symmetrical composition, Gilbert and George posed standing framing Le pacha, the emblematic character imagined by Leonetto Cappiello almost a century earlier, as if to "come full circle".
Today, the posters in the collection are widely recognized and reproduced. While art lovers and collectors prefer chromolithographic plates that are easy to recognize, the market is flooded with "decorative posters", reproductions of images at low prices. To adorn walls, these beautiful images of yesteryear still have their enthusiasts. The JOB collection will remain an outstanding, timeless example of advertising graphics.
The year indicated corresponds to the calendar date.
Documents used as a source for this article.