On the top rests a real Absinthe spoon and a painted bronze sugar cube. Such sculpture has a stable, glass like base, but an opened out, sliced up body. Which is considered Picasso's greatest Absinthe cubist masterpiece from 1914 is a sculpture named "Verre d'Absinthe" (Absinthe Glass), a painted bronze in an edition of six, all of which were painted differently. This is not the only Absinthe item that acted as inspiration for the painter. He described how a copy of Maire's Pernod Fills chromolithograph was hung in Picasso's studio during the time he was creating his early cubist masterpieces, and how Picasso gave it to him as a souvenir. In 1959, during a press interview with the French poet and artist Jean Cocteau, he talked about his friendship with Picasso, and his visits to the artist's atelier. Both Picasso and Braque were inspired by Maire cartons, as the basis of some of the very earliest Cubist paintings including "Bouteille de Pernod et verre", a painting from 1912. Unusually, the chromolithograph was backed on to canvas, and then varnished, giving it the appearance of an original oil technique, enhanced by the custom gilt-wood frame. ![]() The ubiquitous print advertising hung by Pernod Fills in almost every bar and cafe in France was painted by Charles Maire. Picasso declared once that his earliest cubist works were inspired by Absinthe, including one named "Bottle of Pernod and Glass" painted in 1912, directly based on the Pernod publicity posters designed by Maire, picturing a bottle of Absinthe, a glass, and a folded newspaper. In the early works of Pablo Picasso, one of the most important in the so called "Blue Period" is a painting from 1901 titled "Woman Drinking Absinthe" that shows a woman dressed in blue with elongated hands and fingers, sitting at the corner of a table in a Parisian cafe with a glass of Absinthe in front her. Then the fashion spread from the Universal Exhibition of 1889, a year of massive absinthe consumption.Absinthe was featured prominently by most artists of the Belle Époque. (First testimonies: Alphonse Allais, 1885 drawing by Louis Legrand, 1888). One day, a creative type thought that dissolving sugar on a normal spoon and then tipping it into the glass wasn’t very practical, so had the idea to drill holes.Ĭonfidentially to being with, the idea spread little by little until it became an effective way to proceed. In conclusion, shovel shaped absinthe spoons probably made a slow appearance towards 1880 or maybe slightly before when absinthe was expanding. From then on, it’s representation in newspaper cartoons and even paintings, became more prevalent over the years. The Universal Exhibition 1889 was without doubt a springboard which spread the fashion of the absinthe spoon. A large percentage of these visitors would have left with a souvenir: a postcard, poster or small trinket. The Universal Exhibition, which lasted from 15 May to 31 October 1889, attracted 33 million visitors. Do not confuse a manufacturers name with a brand name. A trader called Guillemaud took the opportunity to stamp his brand name on the handle of some spoons, but he was not involved in the manufacturing. Fouquet rue de Montreuil in Paris, stamped their products knowing the impact this would have. ![]() Merchandising is not a modern thing, numerous everyday objects were made in the shape of the Eiffel Tower: Quills, spirit bottles, glass candlesticks, moving image pens, and absinthe spoons… It is hard to imagine going from a sweet aperitif like quinquina to an absinthe which is much stronger with harsher flavours without the addition of sugar.īut it was all a matter of taste, the way of preparing absinthe varied according to the different social classes.įor manufacturers to have had the idea in 1889, to make an Eiffel Tower shaped absinthe spoon, which they knew four years previously was to be the highlight of the Universal Exhibition, this method of consumption must have been well established. (On every bedside table, a carafe of sugared water was placed ready for the night). Knowing that every meal ended with a liqueur (which contained 20% sugar), the consumption of syrups was much larger than it is today (a syrup contained 50% sugar) and that water was often sweetened as well. More information on these drinks can be found in the excellent book by Gilbert Fabiani Elixirs & Boissons Retrouvé, published by Equinoxe, 1999, which gives recipes for 1252 house aperitifs and family liqueurs. All one can say, is that from 1860, sugared drinks were very popular judging by the thousands of spirit, liqueurs and syrup labels which demonstrate the importance of such consumption. It is difficult to confirm that absinthe has always been sweetened since the start.
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