This amusing poster by the extraordinary artist Marcel Vertès was designed to advertise Frou Frou, a satirical weekly founded in Paris in 1900 and whose last issue was released on 13 June 1923.

Although the poster does not feature the date of the publication, the title, number of pages and price allow us to surmise that it may have been made in 1922-1923 and therefore towards the magazine’s final phase. Indeed, in 1922, when Maurice Coriem and Marcel Gauthier joined as new editors, the magazine reduced its size from 40 to 16 pages. Furthermore, it supressed the article “le” of the original title and raised the price from 25 to 50 centimes.

Le Frou Frou, whose name suggests the characteristic rustling sound produced by silky female garments, was born with a cheeky and naughty spirit for the enjoyment of an adult Parisian bourgeois readership, and there was nobody better than Marcel Vertès to portray the early 20^th century bourgeoisie in a mocking, satirical and erotic light.

In the 1920s, technological and economic development led to a highly differentiated class society, with a unique lifestyle and aesthetics that allowed it to parade its financial position. The outcome was the creation of social groups based primarily on economic wealth.

In his caustically humorous and insightful drawings and illustrations made with quick, nervy yet assertive lines, Marcel Vertès was adept at mocking the arrogance and conceit of the bourgeoisie and ridiculing their everyday habits.

Marcel Vertès became a chronicler of Parisian nightlife in the manner of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901). In his drawings and lithographs he wittingly and elegantly depicted the excesses of the Belle Époque period.

Little by little, Vertès staked out an important place for himself in Paris’s art world. With a deep interest in fashion and the society of his time, he contributed illustrations to journals and magazines of the stature of Vogue, Harper´s Bazaar and Vanity Fair.

In 1953, he won two Academy Awards for his work as artistic director and costumes designer in Moulin Rouge, the film by John Huston based on the life of Toulouse-Lautrec.

Vertès developed a significant career as a book illustrator and poster maker, not only for magazines, but also for cabarets, theatre plays, circuses, exhibitions, perfumes and fashion houses.