vintage Deauville travel poster – Jean Don – 1925 French travel poster
In the mid-1920s, the glamorous town of Deauville on the Côte Fleurie or ‘flowery coast’, in France’s Normandy region captivated visitors with its timeless charm. This seaside resort, an upmarket holiday destination since the 1800s, exuded an air of sophistication and allure. This vintage Deauville travel poster was created by the French artist Jean Don in 1925 to entice visitors to the region.
This French travel poster offers its viewers a warm Deauville welcome from a coy young woman standing in the lush green countryside. She is wearing a traditional tiered French bonnet and holding a huge bouquet of red flowers, with a beaming smile for the incoming tourists. Behind her, a large black automobile, filled with passengers is travelling through the rolling hills of the Deauville countryside, along the main road into Deauville. The long, straight road is lined with citrus trees with their fruit hanging from the tree branches.
The main objective of the bright eye-catching poster seems to be to present some of the many methods visitors and tourists can employ to make their way to the luxurious seaside resort. In the distance, at the end of the road, we catch a glimpse of the sea. On the sea, a sailboat close to the shore is heading to Deauville’s harbour, while a steam cruise ship with smoke billowing out of its funnels is sailing west across the horizon. The ocean liner is carrying its passengers towards the next stop on its itinerary having been in port in Deauville for two days. Overhead a monoplane begins its descent to Deauville airport. The aeroplane is carrying a dozen or so more wealthy guests to the resort.
The only text on the poster states the name of the resort Deauville set in a bold white typeface with a blue arrow running through it. The aeroplane, arrow hillside and road are all converging to the left side of the poster, directing the eye towards the resort.
Deauville
Years before the town was known for the prestigious American Film Festival, Deauville offered its visitors a beautiful wide, sandy beach backed by Les Planches, a 1920s boardwalk with bathing cabins, elegant belle epoque villas and half-timbered buildings. The town is renowned for its grand casino, golf courses and its famous horse racing. Deauville was a magnet for those seeking opulent experiences and a holiday devoid of exhilarating races was simply unimaginable. Legend has it that the visionary Duke of Morny, a mastermind behind the birth of this coastal paradise in the 19th century, constructed the town’s racecourse even before its church. In an era where a racecourse embodied both a thrilling stadium and a captivating casino.
Deauville has a long association with horse racing. Deauville’s first racecourse, the Hippodrome Deauville-La Touques, originally called Hippodrome de la Touques was constructed in 1862 by Charles Auguste Louis Joseph, duc de Morny, the half-brother of Napoleon III. The racetrack in the Calvados department of Normandy, France is well-known for its thoroughbred flat racing. A second racetrack, the Deauville-Clairefontaine racecourse, was inaugurated in the town in 1928. Deauville-Clairfontaine holds races in the three disciplines of trotting, flat racing and jumping (hurdles and steeplechase). Deauville is also considered to be the main horse breeding region in France and home to many stud farms.
Over the decades this association with horses has been reflected in many vintage travel posters, horse racing and horse show events. Some of the best that immediately spring to mind include the stunning 1930 Deauville poster created by Pierre Commarmond. It’s an art deco classic featuring a white silhouette of a horse and jockey talking to a young woman with a dog set against a sky-blue background and sea. In the distance below the dog, the white sails of sailing boats sit on the ocean. At the top of the page is a small aeroplane, the method of transport to get from London to Deauville in 60 minutes by air.
Another is the superb 1948 poster created by Michel Jacquet which advertises the 1948 Deauville Concours Hippique. It features a beautiful image of a young equestrian woman dressed in a traditional black polo outfit riding side-saddle on her white steed. The image is enhanced by the green turf on the pitch and the tall trees that line the edge of the racetrack at Deauville – La Touques. Another classic poster by the same artist is Jacquet’s beautiful, bold and dramatic rendering of a polo match in progress. The poster is titled Deauville Saison de Polo and depicts the two teams of four riders competing on horseback.
It’s hard to single out a fourth but we’ve selected one that is more Deauville sea-side related rather than horses. It’s a poster created by the French artist Roger de Valerio in 1935 for the Chemins de Fer de L’Etat or the French State Railways. Rather than a particular image Valerio has created an ariel map of the entire French seaside resort including the seafront, beach, promenade, recreational area, port, harbour and its two famous racecourses with the Église Saint-Augustin de Deauville in between.
