FIORINO

Original Poster Advertisement for Asti Spumante. Jean D’Ylen (born Jean Paul Beguin in Paris, 1886-1938). After several years as a jewelry designer, D’Ylen became a full-time posterist in 1919 and signed an exclusive contract with Vercasson firm in 1922. D’Ylen’s mastery of the art of flamboyant product personification is derived from his mentor, Cappiello, whose posters were defined by animated and exotic imagery. In 1898, he won gold and silver medals from the Ville de Paris. From 1900-1902 he was a student at the Bernard Palissy School, a municipal school of Fine Arts. He designed his first poster for the soap ‘Erasmic’ - a luminous figure of a woman in a soap bubble, on a background of green and pink. It was a resounding success. After completing service in the French infantry in World War I, he joined the firm of Vercassson in 1919. His early work was presented at the Salon de la Publicite where it was described as “mastery of the modern poster.” He had an exclusive contract with Vercasson for thirty posters including for Waterman, Ripolin, Jacquemaire, Shell, Bally and Sandeman’s Port. Within two years, his posters were displayed across Europe, England (by Weiner), Sweden, Holland, USA, Canada, and Australia. Widowed in 1924, he remarried in 1926. He left Vercasson in 1934 to become head posterist for Weiner in London. He designed for Esso, BP, the Daily Herald, Power Ethyl and was widely recognized as a leader in his field. In 1938, he died prematurely, at the height of his career. Ninety of his works are held by the Bibliotheque Nationale. Later a large collection of his work was found in an atelier in Paris. An exhibition of 72 of his posters was held at the Bibliotheque Forney at the Hotel de Sens in Paris in 1980.