Original Vintage French Film Poster, 'La Maternelle', by Peynet, 1949

Raymond Peynet was born in Paris on 16th November 1908. At 15, he gained entrance to the famous Ecole des Arts Appliqués, a school that happened to be located just opposite the bistro owned by his parents, who had moved from Auvergne to Paris some years before. He started learning his trade when he began work as a draughtsman for Tolmer, an advertising agency in Paris, doing various tasks from sweeping the floor to drawing labels for perfume bottles and decorating biscuit boxes, eventually progressing to the creation of various advertisements. In 1930, he married Denise and whose family name Damour was most appropriate. To make a better living, he started publishing his drawings in the Parisian press, which included many popular editions at that time like Le Rire, Rire à deux, Paris magazine, The Boulevardier. Peynet died on 14th January 1999, at the age of 90. It was exactly one month before Saint Valentine’s day.