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

Tourist promotional poster dating from around 1960 by Steve Carpenter (signed 'Carpenter' at bottom right) for the French Grasse, world capital of perfume. Print: La Lythotyp - Marseille commissioned by the Tourist Office of the city of Grasse. Condition B+ > A: some roll creases at the edges. Image overall intact. Fresh colors. Shipping: rolled in a sturdy tube with tracking.

The southern French city of Grasse, nestled between the Alps and the Mediterranean, has for almost three centuries been the world capital of perfume. The surrounding hills that descend to the sea are clad with flower fields, spreading the most subtle scents. In the month of May one of Grasse’s pearls is in bloom: the Provence rose (Rosa centifolia), a flower originally from the Caucasus. During harvest there is an explosion of fragrances that can be found again in many perfumes and floral waters. The area, influenced by the nearby mountains and the saline soil, gives this refined flora unique hues. Violets and jasmine are also cultivated here, found in the city’s major perfumeries.

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.