ART & ARTISTS: Achille Lucien Mauzan

Friday, 6 May 2022

Achille Lucien Mauzan - part 2

Achille Lucien Mauzan (1883 Gap, Hautes-Alpes - 1952 Gap) was born on the French Riviera, but moved to Italy in 1905, known as a decorative illustrator designing during the Art Deco movement, though he also painted and sculpted.

After a period of study in the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, France, Mauzan divided his life between Milan, Paris and Buenos Aires. Between the years 1920 and 1940, the period between the wars, he used forms and materials under the influence of the avant-garde cubists. He was also an illustrator of posters and postcards.

During his career as a poster printer and designer, Mauzan designed over 2,000 posters, using a style marked by humour and brilliant colours for advertisement and events and over 1,000 postcard images. He made several important posters for the Italian film industry in Turin, and then went to work at Ricordi music publishing from 1912 to 1917. Later, from 1919 to 1923 he works in the Magical press (Giovanni Magagnoli). In 1924 in Milan he establishes with Morzenti his own publishing house, the Mauzan-Morzenti Agency. In 1926 he travels to Argentina and sets up the "Affiches Mauzan" (Mauzan Posters) publishing house where many of his greatest works were created and where he worked until 1932. Within those years, Gino Boccasile, one of his students in Milan, travels to Argentina at his insistence and sets up studio. Mauzan is also noted for designing several war posters including an adaptation of the famous Lord Kitchener poster.

This is part 2 of a 5-part series on the works of Achille Lucien Mauzan:

Postcards: