Vintage Poster Archives
Chesky Aperitif 1926 | Le Texier Vintage Advertising
Chesky Aperitif 1926 | Le Texier Vintage Advertising
Couldn't load pickup availability
A large glossy red cherry functions as the head of a bowing waiter in full evening tails, white shirt, gloves and napkin, holding out a dark amber bottle of Chesky Apéritif against a cadmium yellow ground. The figure is framed by a radial spray of dark ink, with bold forest-green lettering filling the upper field: CHESKY above, APÉRITIF below. The slogan 'On s'incline!', italicised in the lower right, carries a dual meaning: the French phrase means both 'one bows' and 'one is won over.'
Designed by René Le Texier and lithographed by Imprimerie Camis, Paris, the poster dates to 1926, registered as Mod. Dep. N° 1333. It belongs to the tradition of French aperitif advertising in which commercial lithography was treated as a graphic design problem: a single figure, a single colour field, a single wit. The approach places it in the company of Cappiello's anthropomorphic aperitif characters of the same decade, though Le Texier's palette is more restrained, one saturated ground, one centred figure, no secondary scenes.
Chesky was a cherry-whisky aperitif; the brand name itself is a phonetic Gallicisation of 'cherry whisky,' and the composition makes that etymology literal. The poster was produced in both large-format and smaller display-carton versions for use across café and restaurant settings in France.
A natural fit for a dining room, kitchen, bar wall or restaurant interior. The yellow ground and red cherry read at distance; the wit in the composition rewards closer attention.
