French Line Poster – Cie Gle Transatlantique Le Havre-Southampton-New York
This is a reproduction of a 1920s French Line Poster created by the renowned artist Paul Colin. It was produced by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique shipping company aka the Cie Gle Transatlantique which was better known oversea by the name “French Line”. The poster is cleverly ambiguous. The view from the bridge to the second funnel enables the image to represent many of the French Lines ships at the time. However, given the date the poster was published, we believe it is likely supposed to represent the newest addition to their fleet… the SS Ile de France.
The bold, unmissable Cie Gie French Line poster advertises the company’s popular Le Havre – Southampton – New York sailings. The large black and White steamship with its recognisable red and black funnels is portrayed between two bands of blue, the sky and the sea. The only other colours are introduced in the clothing worn by the seafaring passengers that are portrayed milling about the three visible decks. The inclusion of the passengers gives the ship scale and helps provide an idea of its size.
The French Line shipping company
The Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT) was established in 1855 by two French brothers Émile and Issac Péreire. In 1861, the name of the company was changed to Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. For the next forty years, the company struggled with economic and financial crisis, bankruptcy, shipping accidents and the death of a founding brother the French Line limped on.
In 1904 and on the verge of collapse, the company instated a new president in Jules Charles-Roux. The new President was to turn the company’s fortunes around. He began by winning back the loyalty of wealthy industrialists who had previously been customers. The company embarked on new cargo services on routes to North Africa, New York, and Central America. However, more importantly, he decided on a change of policy… by targeting a new clientele.
Speed across the Atlantic had always been the driving force in the construction of new transatlantic ships. Chasing the Blue Ribbond was paramount for most. Charles-Roux deemed it irrelevant. To achieve the high speeds used coal and the prices of the amount burned was making trips unprofitable. The French Line president believed that the speed of liners had reached its pinnacle. One that would only be exceeded by technological advances.
The ships of the CGT
SS France: In 1912 the company launched a new liner, SS France. It was smaller than most of CGTs rival ships but its speed of 25 knots was impressive for the time. Moreover, the ship was lavish. So lavish, she was nicknamed “Versailles of the Atlantic” in reference to her décor which reflected the famous French palaces. The ship was decorated in the Baroque revivalist style. It was the first ship to feature a Grand Staircase, a copy of one in the Hotel de Toulouse. She also had a gymnasium, an elevator, and a hair salon, all new innovations at the time. SS France quickly gained the loyalty of a wealthy clientele and soon became one of the most popular ships in the Atlantic and confirmed that the company was heading in the right direction.
SS Paris: The SS France was followed in 1913 by the laying down of the SS Paris. The French ocean liner was intended to be the second of four new ships for the CGT company introduced in five-year intervals. However, the outbreak of World War One delayed its completion and she was finally launched in 1921. Still not as big as its rivals such as White Star’s Olympic class liners or HAPAG’s Imperator class ships, she was at the time the largest French ocean liner afloat. And, once again, the French Line had chosen style over speed. In his book Ile de France and the Golden Age of Transatlantic Travel, the author Thomas Kepler writes that at the time of her entry into service, the Paris “was hailed as one of the most luxurious liners on the Atlantic with facilities that no other liner could claim. Moving away from the Baroque style of the SS France the interior of the SS Paris was designed in a beautiful fusion of Art Nouveau and Art Deco.
SS Ile de France: 1927 saw the launch of the SS Ile de France. She was the first major ocean liner built after World War I and was the first liner ever to be decorated almost entirely in the new art deco style that was being embraced across the world. In his book writer, Kepler goes on to suggest that when the ship first sailed to New York she took with her the first great example of L’Art Moderne or Art Deco.
The Ile de France wasn’t the largest or fastest of ocean liners, but where she lacked in size and speed, she more than made up for elegance and style. In Kepler’s words ” “The ship’s interiors were unlike anything previously seen on the North Atlantic and set a standard in ocean liner décor for decades to come”. The ship became an iconic symbol of luxury and success for many who sought to make a voyage abroad in the pre-World War II era. The French ocean liner was immensely popular with young, wealthy, famous and fashion-conscious Americans travelling between America and Europe.
Just some of the ship’s amenities included a chapel, executed in a Gothic style with fourteen pillars and a seating capacity of 100; a shooting gallery, a sixty-car garage, an indoor swimming pool, a bowling alley, children’s merry-go-round, a 350-seat film theatre, as well as a state of the art gymnasium and la pièce de résistance first-class cuisine. An article on the New York Social Diary website by Scott Houston McBee tells “All of the First Class cabins were unique, each decorated in its own uniquestyle. One of the “apartments” — the Fontainebleau Suite (with bedroom and a sitting area) — was priced from $1,800 per person (approximately $54,000 in today’s currency) for the weeklong crossing.
It’s no wonder the passenger lists of the 1920s and 1930s. are full of the names of the rich and famous. politicians and royalty. Photographs taken on board the Ile de France show that the ship’s clientele consisted of actors and actresses including Laurel & Hardy, Cary Grant, Marlene Dietrich, Gloria Swanson, Lena Horne, Rita Hayworth, Buster Keaton, Maurice Chevalier and Will Rogers. Writers and authors including Ernest Hemingway, Franz Werfel and William C. Lengel. Royalty including Prince Rainer of Monaco and even the physicist Maire Curie.
SS Normandie: When CGT planned the construction if its next ship, it wanted it to achieve three things. It was to be the largest ocean liner afloat, it was to be the fastest liner on the seas and it was to present to the world the very best of what France had to offer, from decor and cuisine to style and service. The SS Normandie achieved its ambitions. At 60,000 tonnes and 1,000 feet in length, she was the largest and with a then-record speed of 32.2 knots she was also the fastest. She was launched on 29 October 1932. Her maiden voyage was a grand success as she broke the record for the fastest transatlantic crossing both on her westbound and on her eastbound sailings. She held the Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing at several points during her service career, during which the RMS Queen Mary was her main rival.
To complete the hat trick Normandie‘s unique design and lavish interiors were realised by the best of France’s creators, designers and decorators. She was novel, innovative, glamorous and exceptionally advanced. The ship was a true sensation. Certainly the greatest and grandest of all French liners, and today she is widely considered to be the ultimate transatlantic ocean liner of the twentieth century.
The exterior design of the company’s new flagship offered a modern, streamlined look. Its three sloping funnels, each getting progressively smaller, the finely raked hull and slanting clipper-like bow were unique. The Normandie was capable of carrying 1,972 passengers, including 848 in first class, 670 in tourist and 454 in third class. And they were carried in pure unadulterated luxury. Normandie’s interiors were designed in the popular Art Deco and Streamline Moderne styles by the architect Pierre Patout. An article by William H Miller on the HistoryPress website helps us describe the ship’s interior in more detail. The ship’s first-class dining hall was the largest room afloat. At 93 metres, it was longer than the Hall of mirrors at the Palace of Versailles and it rose 8.5 metres… three decks in height! The room could seat 700 dining passengers at 157 tables. Diners entered through 6 meter high doors decorated with bronze medallions by artist Raymond Subes. The room was illuminated by twelve tall pillars designed by the famous glassmaker Rene Lalique, as were 38 matching light columns dispersed along the walls. Lalique also designed the chandeliers, crystal drinking glasses, mirrors and other glassware.
The ship boasted of the first theatre ever fitted to an ocean liner which also included a complete stage. Other facilities included an 80ft long indoor swimming pool, an indoor Winter Garden arbetorium with exotic birds, marble fountains and flowers, plants and shrubs. The main lounge was decorated with glass panels by Jean Dupas and featured the largest Aubusson carpet at sea. Each of the 400 first-class cabins were individually decorated in a concept and theme. The ship had restaurants, bars, a nightclub for dancing, a smoking room, an open-air swimming pool, a sauna and a cinema. Two luxury apartments named the “Trouville Suite” and the “Deauville Suite” were located on the Sun Deck. On his website William Millar explains the luxurious suites had four bedrooms, a large private terrace, attached servants’ quarters and a private dining salon with an individual serving area, a warming kitchen and, of course, a baby grand piano. And all for just $10,000 per passenger! In a fabulous online article called “The SS Normandie – A True Monarch of the Seas” on theshipyardblog reveals that when the Normandie sailed from New York to Rio de Janeiro on a 24-day cruise, the Rouen suite cost around $650 (equivalent to about $14,000 in 2012) for each of the eight occupants. The two Grand Suites were even more expensive. In the book ‘Normandie: Her Life and Times’, author Norman Ardmans writes that prices did not exceed $1,400 on the ships record-breaking maiden voyage. $1,400 in today’s money (2021) equates to around $30, 500. Ardman continues that passengers would also have to buy a $20 ($435) ticket to take your dog onboard and a $5 (108) ticket for your cat, or caged bird.
At those kinds of prices, it may not come as a surprise that the abundance of luxury and attractions Normandie had to offer its passengers, made her one of the most popular liners on the Atlantic route for the rich and the famous. She attracted a number of celebrities including the American President John F, Kennedy, actors including Cary Grant, James Stewart, David Niven, Olivia de Havilland, Douglas Fairbanks, Marlene Dietrich and Fred Astaire. Lords, Ladies and Royalty including the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia, the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough and Lord Beaverbrook. Singers including Bing Crosby and the von Trapp Family Singers. Artists and writers including Ernest Hemingway, Walt Disney, and Salvador Dali. The passenger was made up of most of the world’s rich and famous.
Other French Line shipping posters
Just as art had influenced the decor of the French Line’s ocean liners, the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique embraced high quality art on their advertising materials. They commissioned some of the most popular poster artists of the era to promote their cruise services. Years after the company’s demise the company’s heritage still continues, partly due to its original advertising posters. French Line posters feature some of the best-known ships of the Golden Era of Ocean Liners and they continue to attract poster collectors from all over the world as they try to capture some of the era’s magic.
One of the best-known posters was created by the French artist Adolphe Mouron Cassandre. In keeping with the ship it promotes, the poster features a superb art deco painting of the bow of the SS Normandie. The poster was produced in 1935 to promote the inaugural voyage of the Normandie. Another poster, by Albert Sébille, showed the interior layout of the Normandie as a cutaway diagram. The original, which is displayed in the Musée National de la Marine in Paris was 4.5 metres (15 ft) long.
From the many posters published by the CGT company, some of our favourites include
Albert Sebille‘s fabulous poster from 1923 poster. It was produced to promote ocean liner services between the Hâvre, Plymouth and New-York. It features a superb bird’s-eye view of the Ile de France arriving at New York harbour.
