Gallery

Absinthe posters

Nineteen posters, from 1862 to 1913. Some sold the drink, some fought it, and one made it a movie. Each is credited to the library or museum that holds it.

Compiled by Bryen Beglinger

Selling it

Absinthe makers paid for some of the best posters of the Belle Époque. These run in date order, from a substitute sold in 1862 to the last years before France banned the drink in 1915.

Poster for Absinthe-Chinoise showing two men in Chinese robes at a bar pouring drinks, with bottles and a barrel behind — Absinthe-Chinoise, 1862, sold as a substitute that "replaces absinthe to advantage, without its drawbacks." The worry is already there forty years before the bans.Absinthe-Chinoise poster, Rouchon printer, Paris, 1862. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica.

Combined poster with a tall bottle of Absinthe Joanne on a medal, Amer Picon at the top and Chocolat Menier below, a fashionable woman and girl beside it — Absinthe Joanne shares a wall with a bitter aperitif and a chocolate maker, the ordinary company of a Paris street.Amer Picon, Absinthe Joanne, Chocolat Menier poster, printed in Paris, 1889. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica.

Terminus Absinthe poster with a jester in red and white raising a glass toward a tall woman holding a bottle, on a yellow mosaic background — Terminus of Pontarlier calls itself "absinthe bienfaisante," the beneficial one, and boasts two million francs of capital.Francisco Tamagno, Terminus Absinthe bienfaisante, Pontarlier, printed 1892. Letterenhuis, Antwerp.

Absinthe Parisienne poster with a laughing young woman in blue offering a glass to an old man in black who leans on a barrel marked Santé — "Bois donc, tu verras après." Drink up, you will see afterward. The old man leans on a barrel marked Santé, health.P. Gélis-Didot and Louis Malteste, Absinthe Parisienne, Distillerie du Val-Roger, printed by Affiches Artistiques, Paris, in the 1890s (catalogs give 1892 to 1896). Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica.

Poster for Absinthinette with a dancing woman in a yellow dress holding up a small tube, a crowd behind her — Absinthinette: a tube of absinthe flavoring for one glass of water, ten centimes, sold as a hygienic refreshment.Emile Tabouret, Absinthinette, printed by Delanchy et Cie, Paris, 1895. Musée Carnavalet, Paris Musées.

Art Nouveau poster of a woman in a pale gown raising a glass of green absinthe, swirls of smoke behind her and the words Absinthe Robette — Privat-Livemont's Absinthe Robette, the best known absinthe poster. She holds the glass up like an offering.Henri Privat-Livemont, Absinthe Robette, printed by J.L. Goffart, Brussels, 1896. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica.

Tall poster of a Zouave soldier in a red fez and baggy white trousers raising a bottle of Absinthe Mugnier — A Zouave soldier raises a bottle of Absinthe Mugnier of Dijon. Where the army story of absinthe comes from is on the Origins page.Lucien Lefèvre, Absinthe Mugnier, reproduced in Les Maîtres de l'Affiche, plate 135, Imprimerie Chaix, Paris, 1898. Gallica.

Crowded café scene with a red bearded man in a straw hat lounging with a glass of absinthe among dancers and drinkers — Absinthe Berthelot puts the drink in the middle of a noisy café, where most of it was poured.Henri Thiriet, Absinthe Berthelot, printed 1898. Letterenhuis, Antwerp.

Framed still life of a Pernod Fils bottle, a carafe and a clouded glass of absinthe on a table with a Pontarlier newspaper — Pernod Fils, the biggest house of all, chose a quiet still life: the bottle, the carafe, the clouded glass and the Pontarlier paper.Lithograph after Charles Alphonse Maire, Pernod Fils, printed 1898.

Cappiello poster of a grinning man in a top hat and a woman in a huge red hat drinking at a café table, on a yellow ground — Cappiello for J. Édouard Pernot of Montbéliard, a different house from Pernod despite the name.Leonetto Cappiello, Absinthe extra supérieure J. Édouard Pernot, printed in Paris, 1900. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Poster for Absinthe de Pontarlier by H. Deniset Jeune with Pierrot and costumed revelers at a night garden party and a large bottle in front — Absinthe de Pontarlier, H. Deniset Jeune: Pierrot and his friends at a night party, the bottle in front.Marcellin Auzolle, Absinthe de Pontarlier, H. Deniset Jeune, printed in France before absinthe was banned there in 1915.

Poster for Rosinette, a pink absinthe, with a woman in a red gown and plumed hat beside a bottle — Rosinette, "absinthe rose oxygénée." This one was pink.Rosinette absinthe rose, printed by Affiches Camis, Paris, before absinthe was banned in France in 1915.

Cappiello poster of a laughing woman in a red dress and hat swinging a bottle of Absinthe Ducros Fils against a black background — Cappiello again, for Ducros Fils of Valence. His trick was one figure, one color, readable from across the street.Leonetto Cappiello, Absinthe Ducros Fils, Valence, printed by Vercasson, Paris, 1901. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica.

Poster of a stout man with a pipe and mustache pouring water from a jug into a glass of absinthe at a garden table — "C'est ma santé." It is my health. A Gempp Pernod of Lunel drinker pours the water slowly, the way it was done.Victor Leydet, Absinthe supérieure Gempp Pernod, Lunel, printed in France before absinthe was banned there in 1915.

Poster of a monument made of soldiers from many nations climbing toward a giant bottle of Absinthe Rivoire, an angel on top — "The future monument to peace": soldiers of every nation, all climbing toward one bottle of Absinthe Rivoire.Marcellin Auzolle, Le futur monument de la paix, Absinthe Rivoire, lithograph by L. Weyl, printed by Vercasson, Paris, 1905. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica.

Poster for Absinthe Jules Pernod of Avignon with a young man in a bicorne hat and a flower seller in a garden — Jules Pernod of Avignon, another Pernod, another house, in powdered wig costume.Absinthe Jules Pernod, Avignon, printed in France before absinthe was banned there in 1915.

Against it

The other side made posters too. Temperance leagues and ban committees used the same walls.

Red Swiss poster with a white cross and mountains calling citizens to vote yes on banning absinthe on July 5 — Switzerland, 1908: "Un pour tous, tous pour un." The committee behind the national vote of July 5 asks for a yes. It passed, 241,078 to 138,669.Comité fédéral de l'initiative, Votation populaire du 5 juillet sur l'interdiction de l'absinthe, printed by A. Fiedler, La Chaux-de-Fonds, 1908.

Temperance poster headed L'Alcool voilà l'ennemi, a giant absinthe bottle marked Poison with a skull, a crowd and a dog in front — "Alcohol, there is the enemy." The bottle at the center is labeled Absinthe, with a skull for Poison.Frédéric Christol, L'Alcool! Voilà l'ennemi, temperance poster printed in France, about 1910.

After the bans

In the United States absinthe became a story to warn people with.

Film poster for Gem's Absinthe with the actor Glen White slumped at a table beside two glasses, framed in gold — By 1913 absinthe was a movie villain. Gem's "great instructive play" starred Glen White, here in his "reflective moments."Poster for Gem's Absinthe, starring Glen White, published 1913. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Sources

Posters from the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica, the Library of Congress, the Musée Carnavalet and the Letterenhuis, Antwerp, through Wikimedia Commons. Each one is listed on the image rights page with its original.
The Swiss vote of July 5, 1908, 241,078 yes to 138,669 no: Federal Council report on the result, via Swissvotes
Absinthe Parisienne, dated 1896 by Bonhams