Art deco style posters prop up Paris as it gets ready for the Games
Associated Press
Vibrant colours and striking landmarks illuminate posters for the Paris Olympic Games in an art deco style inspired by the city’s flamboyant past.
The posters were unveiled on Monday at the Musee d’Orsay — a former railway station transformed into an imposing museum stretching along the Seine River — in the presence of Paris 2024 director of design Joachim Roncin and the artist behind them, Ugo Gattoni.
Telling a story
“I don’t want it to be something dull like only a poster with only a logo and a date on it, which they usually are. I want to tell a story,” Roncin said.
“I want it to be something very happy, because it’s going to a huge party. I want it to be very joyful. Hopefully people will be inspired by these posters.”
There are many eyecatching images to absorb.
Among the most striking is the Eiffel Tower piercing through the Stade de France. As if forming a giant cake mixing together two crucial ingredients: Paris’ most famed landmark and its national stadium.
Spectators on the posters have expressions on their fresh faces that are perfectly captured. It’s like they are frozen in time, enjoying a giant and timeless party somewhere: On a balcony admiring ballroom dancers, or guests at a grandiose fête thrown by the Great Gatsby himself.
“It’s the art deco style,” Roncin said. “I wanted something very flamboyant, very rich, very colourful. It’s typical of Paris, when you look at various restaurant styles, you can see the art deco style. When you look at the entrance on the subways, you can see the art nouveau style.”
No coincidence
No coincidence that it has this feel, perhaps, since these Games mark the centenary of the 1924 Olympics in Paris.
Everywhere you look, even amid a blur of colours, the details are intricate and precise.
In the background you can see the Olympic flame arriving on a threemast tall ship into the French port of Marseille, having sailed from Greece, and the highrolling waves representing surfing events in Tahiti. Closer up, some of Paris’ monuments which will be used during both Games.
Les Invalides, which holds former French emperor Napoléon Bonaparte’s tomb; the imperious Grand Palais; the Arc de Triomphe, and the Château de Versailles, whose resplendent gardens will host equestrian and pentathlon events.
The posters will also appear on billboards all over Paris from Tuesday.
It will be a relief to purists that no AI (artificial intelligence) was used to design the posters, which is part of the reason why Roncin selected Gattoni.
“It was very important to work with Ugo because he’s a manual artist, he works with his hands. Nothing is digital assisted. Today we live in the world where there is a lot of AI,” Roncin said.
It took six months to decide which colours to use and Gattoni has spent more than 2,000 hours working on the posters.
“It has this fresh feel ... an atmosphere of good vibes,” said Gattoni, whose work also included studying all the previous Olympic posters. Just like the 1924 poster, this poster has to work in 100 years’ time. For me this is super important.”