Thursday’s ad is for Menelik Bier, from probably the 1920s or a little later. 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 the Brouwerij Anglo-Belge, which was located in the East Flemish municipality of Zulte, Belgium. The brewery was founded in 1891 by Alfred Versele and Ernest Martens, but in 1979 was bought by the French group BSN, which then owned the Kronenbourg Brewery, who closed the brewery in 1989. The beer is named for Menelik I, who was “the first Solomonic Emperor of Ethiopia, [and] is traditionally believed to be the son of King Solomon of ancient Israel and Makeda, ancient Queen of Sheba. He is alleged to have ruled around 950 BC, according to traditional sources. Tradition credits him with bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia, following a visit to Jerusalem to meet his father upon reaching adulthood.” The poster was created by Belgian artist J. D’Heedene.
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