Achille Luciano (Lucien) MAUZAN

Illustrator, painter, and sculptor, Achille Lucien Mauzan is one of the major poster artists of the Art Deco period.
Born in France, he moved to Italy in 1905 after studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Lyon. He spent his life between Italy, Argentina and France.
He began his career in the Italian film industry, creating up to three posters a week! He produced more than 1,500 movie posters, including a famous one in France for Louis Feuillade's serial "Les Vampires, Les yeux qui fascinent" in 1916.
In 1912, he began working for Ricordi in Milan, then decided to found his own publishing house with Morzenti: the Mauzan-Morzenti Agency. His posters for famous brands such as Poncio Lupacchioli liqueur (1922) or Moretti raincoats (1921) highlight the quality of the products with humour and playfulness.
In 1927, he moved to Buenos Aires where he created the "Mauzan Posters" and designed his most important works. He returned to France in 1933 and worked for the Société Générale de Publicité and Paris-Affiches until 1940. He spent the last years of his life as a painter in Gap, his hometown.
Achille Mauzan produced more than 2,000 Art Deco advertising posters. The themes are treated with great humour, as in the poster for the Parmesan Bertozzi (1930) featuring three judges who, wearing their wigs, activate their olfactory appendages to judge the incomparable quality of the cheese...