Vintage Poster Archives
Pathé-Marconi La Voix de Son Maître 1950s | Villemot
Pathé-Marconi La Voix de Son Maître 1950s | Villemot
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A black vinyl LP sits on a chrome 3-speed turntable, its green 'La Voix de Son Maître' label at the centre. Above it, on an unbroken field of cadmium red, a yellow outlined numeral '3' announces the machine's three playback speeds, flanked by a schematic gramophone horn and the Nipper silhouette in a warm brownish-red. At the base, 'LA VOIX DE SON MAITRE' appears in sage green, 'PATHÉ-MARCONI' in solid black below.
Bernard Villemot (1911–1989) designed this poster for Pathé-Marconi, the French EMI subsidiary created in 1936. From the early 1950s, the company used the 'La Voix de Son Maître' brand to market consumer audiovisual equipment, including the new generation of 3-speed turntables that played 33, 45, and 78 rpm records simultaneously. The poster belongs to that specific technological moment: the transition to the microgroove LP, when manufacturers competed to signal modernity to a public still accustomed to shellac 78s.
Villemot's approach is consistent with his broader practice: a realistically rendered central object against a bold flat ground, the product doing its own work while the abstracted background carries graphic authority. Trained under Paul Colin between 1932 and 1934, Villemot became one of the most sought-after French poster artists of the post-war period, with clients including Air France, Orangina, and Perrier.
Reproduced from an archival source on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Fine Art Paper. A considered choice for anyone interested in mid-century French graphic design, the visual culture of early hi-fi, or the design history of consumer electronics advertising.
