Artist: GUY ARNOUX (1890-1951)
Size: 24 3/8 x 38 3/4 in./62 x 98.5 cm
Condition: A
Printer: Hubert Baille & Cie., Paris
Reference: Ref: Air France, p. 72

Air France/Amerique du Nord. 1946.
With cartoonish Hollywood iconoclasm, a North American metropolis rises from a cloud bank like a newly emerged concrete and steel nirvana. And with this audacious conjuration, Arnoux reveals that American grandeur is far more accessible than one may have thought, all thanks to Air France. A very legitimate question one might ask is precisely why a sea horse would be used as a logo for an airline and its global flight network. Well, “Before Air France adopted it, it was the logo of Air Orient designed by Couailler, who tells the story of its origin: ‘ . . . It was not an easy problem to solve because the logo had to be practical to use–we had to be able to inscribe it in a circle–an amphibious airline. That was the origin of that allegorical figure which is usually referred to as a seahorse: the horse’s head symbolizes power, the fish tail alludes to seaplanes, and the bird’s wings symbolize speed’” (Air France, p 41).