I Heart Design

no. 57

SELECTED BYJESSICA HELFANDCERTIFICATE OF APPROVALDESIGNERUNKNOWN

My father acquired this print (and several more like it) in a collection he bought from the estate of a friend in France: a certificate of approval for a pharmaceutical product, combining official stamps, labels, and signatures—a visual testament to the due diligence of a battalion of government bureaucrats who were, one can only assume, its intended audience.

It is, of course, so much more than this—a composition of stunning modernity, especially given that it was produced at the end of the nineteenth century. The print is dated 1889—the same year that marked the Exposition Universelle in Paris, the inauguration of the Eiffel Tower, and the opening of the Moulin Rouge. ...