Rhum Negrita
Designer
Designer Unknown
Printer
Imp. J. E. Goossens, Lille
Datec. 1900
Dimensions49 x 35 in. (124.5 x 88.9 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LinePoster House Permanent Collection
Object numberPH.9698
DescriptionRhum Negrita was founded by French liqueur producer Paul Bardinet in 1857 and the young Black woman with a striped headscarf (also seen on the bottle) remains one of the oldest and most familiar advertising images in France. The original design of a Black girl with ribbons in her hair was reworked by French illustrator Max Camis and the name was trademarked in 1886. The poster was probably commissioned by Edwards & Co., the exporters named on the bottle, and was published by the established printers J.E. Goossens, with offices in Lille, Brussels, and Paris. (There is a variant of this design showing the bottle and tray as disproportionately large.) The figure of the young Black woman in a caricatured costume and in a servile pose reflects some of the colonial stereotypes and fantasies of the mainly French and Spanish consumers of this rum at the turn of the century.On View
Not on view
