Look at this extremely rare 1920’s cigarettes sign for Xanthia Cigarettes, showing a beautiful scenery of an oriental temple reflected in the water of an oasis in the desert. This version with palmtrees enhances the exotic feel in the design by Géo Dorival a French poster artist. Born in Paris as Justin Marie Georges Dorival, he exhibited a diploma project for the “Syndicat des agriculteurs de France” at the Salon d’Automne, an artistic event held at the Grand Palais in Paris in 1905. Other well known artists such as Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, André Derain, Henri Matisse and Pierre-Auguste Renoir exposed at the Salon d’Automne in 1905. Some even had their own exposition room. Géo Dorival also made glass plates for shadow puppet theatres, such as the 1910 premiere of Aucassin et Nicolette (Le Flem opera). In the same year 1910, at the age of 31, he designs another gorgeous Oriental inspired image for the opening of the Heliopolis Hotel in Cairo. In this poster, he also uses a water refection technique that enhances the colors of the background layer. This technique became Dorival’s identifying mark that we immediately recognize in his design for Xanthia Cigarettes. This stunning and 100% original condition becomes nearly an impossible find on todays market.