Date: 1916
Size: 38.5 x 58 inches
Artist: Jan Willem "Willy" Sluiter
Research has indicated that this work was the first color advertisement in the history of Dutch advertising. It appeared in the newspaper Algemeen Handelsblad on 16 April 1916 and was produced by the advertising agency Delamar. We love this remarkable comment on Dutch colonialization, race relations, trade … you name it, every stereotype presents itself in this magnificent work: the dandy, lorgnette at the ready wants to buy a carpet (tapijt) from the merchant … who in turn seems almost obsequiously ready to sell his wares.
This poster is rather rare - the Dutch weren't as prolific as the French or Belgians with their poster art - and its size, historical importance, and subject matter make it valuable and quite a find. Willy Jan Sluiter was known as a 'gentleman artist' who painted, produced commercial art and was a caricaturist.