Throughout the 20th-century visual advertising has used the tantalizing image of a beautiful woman, sometimes provocative in presentation and certainly her request that the public take note of her as she makes her pitch to sell a product. That French art has innovatively employed the richly produced poster is well known to collectors and to the public that has "enjoyed" the medium since its rise to artistic status in the 1890s. The female figure is often subtle in its presence among these posters, suggesting that for more than 100 years they contain the message that female sexuality sells. An assessment of the role played by women as sales provocateur is the subect of the current exhibition, a selection of thirty-one large French posters from the extensive collection of Susquehanna University's Lore Degenstein Gallery. Over 1,600 posters came to the university in 1997 through a generous gift from Joseph and Ann Silbaugh. Independent appraisals described this gift as the "largest collection of French Poster art in the United States." Posters in the exhibition range from 1897 to 1988 including work of such prominent artists as Bernard Villemot, Pierre Fix-Masseau, and Razzia. The subjects of the selected posters include figures that overtly express sexual provocation and sophistication, but, curiously, are not necessarily aimed at a male audience. Products offered include bicycles, art exhibitions, the lottery, alcoholic beverages, household appliances, women's shoes, and dance hall performances. Consequently, the majority of these posters are aimed at the female consumer, perhaps appealing to her need to acquire sophistication or sexual power and beauty. One poster, particularly, illustrates this issue. Does an advertisement for bathing suits by Reard of California direct its "come hithter" gesture to an admiring male? Rather the act of purchasing the bathing suit addresses the woman consumer, guaranteeing her instant social adoration. The message states: purchase it and receive the magic talisman that transforms its wearer into an attractive bathing beauty. The French use of the sophisticated model to sell a product has been established since the inception of the medium. A promise of sexual power is subtly suggested when viewers are offered a glass of wine and a promise of pleasurable moments ahead; or a ride on the Orient Express offers a similar assurance of a discreet sexual liaison. It is the promise of attainable sophistication with the implication that the buyer will acquire a certain personal power that directs the message. Some of the posters seem to provocatively speak directly to a mail audience. If, for example, a figure bares her breasts and raises her skirt, is she not inviting a male consumer to purchase her thermostatically controlled space heater? Seductively attired figures appear in many of the posters, enticing the viewer to attend performances of burlesque dance reviews or art exhibitions or to invest in the lottery. The limited literature about the artists of these posters persuades us to take a closer look at not only the treatment of the subject in the allure of its advertising, but in the artistic milieu that is presented. Three artists represented in the exhibition demonstrate the profound significance of the message: Bernard Villemot, Pierre Fix-Masseau, and Razzia. A poster is "like a telegraph that speaks to the multitudes," said Villemot. An artist of considerable reputation in commercial advertising, Villemot contracted throughout his career with Bally Shoes and Orangina. His hand-painted approach harks back to a style before the 1970s before photography largely supplanted the images of graphic artists. Pierre Fix-Masseau, working earlier in the century, brought ideas of modern reductivism into his art. Clean, straightforward with a minimum of detail strike the viewer with the value of the product rather than of his technical prowess. Razzia (his Lnomme d'artiste), who is currently working in Paris and New York, presses the issue of the sophisticated model as the sales person in his poster art. His "hard-edge" realism reflects the fashion industry's present interest in exoticism, although his posters focus on automobiles and sparkling wines rather than on feminine products alone. Scholarship on French poster art of the twentieth century is still to be written. The poster itself has been analyzed through many significant studies of worldwide examples throughout the century, however, the focus on idividual French artists, the agencies and products that represent them, and the range of their contributions to the development of advertising in other countries is yet to be published. Exhibition catalogues have tended to be based on the individual collections of museums, which have broadenend their vision of national styles. It is the specificity of focus on the present exhibition, "Marketing Mamas," that explores more the subject of the advertisers' audience than that of the artists themselves, generating an interest in the visual methods necessary to convey their messages. We anticipate that Susquehanna University's extensive collection of French posters will inspire students and scholars for year to come in the quest for knowledge about this artform.   The students of the Spring 1999 Museum Studies course led by Dr. Valerie Livingston were largely responsible for the organization, curatorship, and mounting of this exhibition. They include: Christine Catafalmo; Erin Kennedy; Tim La Pointe; Victoria Long; Jennifer Messimer; and Brooke Ollinger. Reard of California: Le Premier Maillot de Bain du Monde. Paris: Galliard. Permanent Collection of the Lore Degenstein Gallery.