Saturday’s ad is for Mort Subite, from probably mid-20th century, perhaps a little earlier. From the late 1800s until the 1980s, poster art really came into its own, and in Europe a lot of really cool posters, many of them for breweries, were produced. I’ve been posting vintage European posters all last year and will continue to do so in 2020. This poster was created for Brasserie Mort Subite, founded in 1869 when “Johanna Philipina Bastaerts married Jan Fransiscus De Keersmaeker, a farmer. Johanna had inherited what was previously a brewery from her brother, and Jan soon became a part of it. The Bastaerts-De Keersmaeker family had five children, including three sons. One son, Felix Jan De Keersmaeker (1840–1912) eventually inherited the brewery. Felix, who married twice, had one son named Hubert (1896–1945) who took over the brewery at a young age after the death of his father.” This is the traditional Mort Subite logo, but this is the only instance I’ve seen where it’s in full color. Unfortunately, all I could find was two snapshots of what appears to be the same framed poster or ad in the same location. Neither are in great shape, but the second one shows the color a bit better even though it’s not terribly in focus. I’m not sure who created this metal sign.
