Steve Carpenter - Grasse, wereldhoofdstad van het parfum - 1960s

Tourist advertising poster dated around 1960 by Steve Carpenter (signed 'Carpenter' at the bottom right) for the French Grasse, world capital of perfume.
Printing: La Lythotyp - Marseille commissioned by the Tourism Department of the city of Grasse.
Condition B+ > A: some creases along the edges. The image remains entirely intact. Fresh colors.
Shipping: rolled in a sturdy tube with tracking.

The southern French city of Grasse, nestled between the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea, has been the world capital of perfume for almost three centuries. The surrounding hills that slope down to the sea are lined with flower fields, spreading the most subtle scents. In May, one of Grasse’s jewels comes into bloom: the Provence rose (rosa centifolia), a flower originally from the Caucasus. During harvest there is an explosion of aromas, which can be found again in many perfumes and eaux de parfum. The area, influenced by the nearby mountains and the saline soil, gives these refined flowers unique nuances. Viol·ets and jasmine are also cultivated here, to be found in the city’s major perfume houses.

Steve Carpenter has followed his passion for painting and teaching from the United States to Europe and back over the past four decades. A native of the Pacific Northwest, Steve moved to Rochester, N.Y., in the late '90s after a successful 30-year career in Monaco. Since 2002, he has operated the Steve Carpenter Gallery and Art Center, a school and gallery modeled on the European 'l’atelier de peintre,' in a renovated industrial building on Anderson Avenue in Rochester's Neighborhood of the Arts.