La Ciotat-Plage | 1930s

La Ciotat-Plage, circa 1930, by Geoffroy d'Aboville (DABO)

This vibrant Art Deco poster depicts the stylish beach resort of La Ciotat on the French Riviera. The foreground shows fashionable swimmers in sleek bathing costumes enjoying a pristine swimming pool, with a tanned couple prominently featured in the lower corners of the image. Behind them, children play with a beach ball while others relax on sun loungers under elegant columned structures. The scene captures the quintessential leisure atmosphere of a 1930s seaside resort, with its modernist white architecture, bright blue waters, and distant mountains visible along the horizon. A small sailboat can be seen in the distant sea, and decorative flags flutter in the breeze. The composition uses a bold colour palette of blues, yellows, oranges, and purple against a brown border, with "LA CIOTAT-PLAGE" prominently displayed at the bottom alongside text noting its proximity to Marseille (32 km) and Toulon (39 km). The PLM (Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée) railway logo appears in the upper right corner.

This poster was created to promote La Ciotat as a fashionable beach destination during the golden age of French Riviera tourism. The PLM railway company, established in 1857, was instrumental in transforming the French Riviera into an accessible holiday destination for wealthy Europeans. By the 1930s, when this poster was created, the formerly quiet fishing village of La Ciotat had developed into a popular resort town catering to the growing middle-class tourism market. Following the era when only aristocrats and wealthy foreigners could afford to visit, the 1930s saw more French citizens able to enjoy holidays along the Mediterranean coast, facilitated by improved rail connections. La Ciotat itself has a rich maritime history and gained additional fame as the location where the Lumière brothers filmed some of the world's first motion pictures in 1895, including the famous "Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station."

Geoffroy d'Aboville (1902-1979), who signed his works as "DABO," was a notable French commercial artist and poster designer active in the interwar period. He was particularly known for his travel posters commissioned by the PLM railway company, which used bold colours and geometric Art Deco styling to promote destinations across France and the Mediterranean.