233 - TRIMÉCA - c.1940

TRIMÉCA - c.1940 “Hygienic knit underwear” Signed “Hella ARNO” Original gouache-painted advertising mockup. 34.7 x 24.1 cm. On the reverse: a stamp reading “Atelier HELLA-ARNO-Strasbourg” In good condition— There is a 6-cm tear along the left margin. A surrealist and humorous composition reimagining the biblical scene of the Fall of Man. In the foreground, Adam and Eve, naked in the heart of the Garden of Eden, look up toward the Tree of Knowledge. Coiled around the trunk, the tempting serpent replaces the traditional apple with a large stamped medallion depicting a ram’s head and the brand’s logo: “Triméca hygienic knit underwear.” HELLA ARNO (1904–2000): Born Hélène SPITZER (later Hélène ARNOLD), this great Strasbourg-based poster artist established herself as early as the 1920s as a pioneer of advertising art.