Carlsberg

These attractive and uncredited illustrations come from a promotional book published by the Carlsberg Brewery in the early 1950’s. The book itself is a rather sober affair with a lot of text and monochrome photographs explaining the brewing process. The visual monotony is relieved by the presence of these intensely coloured, double page illustrations. Stylistically they are untypical of the period. Modified elements of sachplakat are combined with vigorous, scrubbed brushwork. The colour palette is one of deep and rich hues deployed with great flair, supported by some deceptively sharp and accurate drawing. They demonstrate the worldwide availability and natural goodness of Carlsberg with carefully considered images structured in an almost cinematic fashion. The luminosity of the paper and the colour selections combine to produce a sense of spaces flooded with light. It’s deplorable that the identity of the artist went unacknowledged. Sadly, this was so often the fate of the inventive, highly skilled and grossly undervalued commercial illustrator.