Raymond Savignac, France (1952)
When AGI celebrated its 50th anniversary in Paris, Raymond Savignac, aged 93, made a fine contribution by designing the logo for the event. There was also a one-man show of...
Read full biographyWhen AGI celebrated its 50th anniversary in Paris, Savignac, aged 93, made a fine contribution by designing the logo for the event. There was also a one-man show of his work. In a fi lm shown at the exhibition, he remarked that, at the outset, he was one of the ‘perfect’ total of eight AGI members: ‘It was more fun before,’ he added. Raymond was a great poster designer, with that typical French painterly style and cartoon-like humour. Educated at the École Lavoisier in Paris, in 1935 he became an assistant to A.M. Cassandre. Savignac always tried to find a ‘single image for a single idea’; it made him a true poster designer, with maximum directness: ‘A poster is like a visual rape.’ When he produced his first Monsavon poster at the age of 41, he considered himself to be ‘reborn’ under the udder of the cow. He was nicknamed ‘L’Homme du Choc’. He also worked for Olivetti, Air France and UNICEF, and against Coca-Cola. His autobiography was entitled A Man and his Profession.