L'intransigeant 1925

Curator: I’m immediately struck by the tension between industry and figure. There’s a certain rawness here, yet precision. Editor: Yes, it’s arresting! This lithographic poster is titled "L'intransigeant" crafted in 1925 by Cassandre, using geometric elements so characteristic of the Art Deco era. The overall impression is of something strident, insistent. Curator: Definitely. Notice the figure with its open mouth. What appears like piercing light, perhaps information or persuasion, barrages the individual, literally beaming forth. Is that supposed to be an eye? That intense blue is jarring. Editor: Consider the medium, the print itself. These bold blocks of colour, simplified forms—they’re demanding. It’s not delicate or subtle; it’s mass-produced communication. These stark graphic forms mirrored the rise of mass media. The cityscape behind seems almost faceless itself, dehumanizing perhaps? Curator: Precisely. The vertical repetition of those building forms leads the eye upwards in a mechanical way, yet simultaneously suggests figures shrouded and trapped. The text treatment, sliced into the composition like that, speaks to fragmentation. The title, after all, implies something inflexible, uncompromising. The artist has definitely brought together architecture and human expression. Editor: This was designed for mass consumption to encourage readership for a specific newspaper. So, this stark simplification served a concrete purpose. The graphic artist used their skills and understanding of audience consumption. Curator: I’d say there’s an anxiety present too, an implication that relentless media risks overwhelming individuality itself. Editor: And it achieved impact! Think of its visual descendants across so many advertisement styles since. The sheer number of impressions that it may have made gives material weight to what it achieved.