Roger Broders (1883–1953) is one of the great specialists in the history of poster art — an artist who devoted his career almost entirely to the travel poster and achieved within that deliberately circumscribed genre a mastery that has never been surpassed. His work for the PLM (Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée) railway company in the 1920s — depicting the resorts of the French Riviera, the French Alps, and the Mediterranean coast — are among the most beautiful graphic images of the Art Deco period, and they remain among the most actively collected works in the travel poster market.
Life and Career
Roger Broders was born in Paris in 1883. He studied at the École des Arts Décoratifs and began his career as a commercial illustrator before focusing almost exclusively on poster design. His relationship with the PLM railway began around 1921 and extended through the late 1920s, producing a series of approximately fifty posters depicting PLM destinations across France and the Mediterranean. These posters represent the core of his legacy and the summit of his achievement.
After the PLM commissions ended in the early 1930s — partly as a result of the Great Depression’s impact on travel advertising budgets — Broders continued to work as a commercial artist but never again achieved the same sustained quality as his PLM period. He died in 1953, his PLM posters largely forgotten by the broader public, though already recognized by specialist collectors as masterpieces of the Art Deco travel poster genre.
The PLM Series: Broders at His Greatest
The PLM railway served the south of France and was the primary carrier to the Mediterranean resorts that were becoming fashionable among the European upper-middle class in the 1920s — Nice, Cannes, Monte Carlo, Menton, the Riviera coast, Provence. The PLM commissioned Broders to produce a series of promotional posters for these destinations, and the results are extraordinary: bold, flat color areas in the characteristic Art Deco palette, geometric compositions that organize the visual world with architectural precision, and a gift for evoking the specific quality of southern light and leisure that distinguishes the best Riviera posters from mere topographic illustration.
Broders also produced a significant body of work for Alpine destinations served by the PLM — ski resorts, mountain spas, and summer hiking destinations in the French Alps. His Alpine posters bring the same compositional rigor and Art Deco clarity to the mountain landscape, with particular success in his depictions of winter sports. His Mont Revard Grand Hotel poster (1927, Maurice Dupuy, Paris) is in the gallery’s collection — a striking Art Deco composition that demonstrates his mastery of the Alpine subject matter.
Broders’ Visual Language
Broders’ compositional approach owes much to the broader Art Deco graphic vocabulary: flat planes of saturated color, strong geometric organization, and a preference for the bird’s-eye or elevated viewpoint that creates a sense of panoramic space within the poster format. His palette is distinctive — the warm terracottas and deep blues of the Mediterranean, the cool whites and azure skies of the Alpine winter — and his ability to evoke the quality of specific light and atmosphere in a region is remarkable given the limitations of the color-separated lithographic process.
His figures, where they appear, are typically small in relation to the landscape — elegantly dressed bathers, skiers, or walkers who serve to indicate scale and leisure without dominating the composition. The landscape itself — the sea, the mountains, the harbor — is the real subject of Broders’ posters. For the broader Art Deco context in which his work belongs, see the Art Deco collection and the travel poster archive.
Collecting Roger Broders
Broders is one of the most actively collected travel poster artists in the world today, with a devoted international collector base and an active auction market. Genuine PLM-period originals in good condition are increasingly scarce, and prices have risen substantially over the past two decades. Large-format works (typically 24 × 39 or 24 × 39.5 inches in the standard PLM format) in very good to fine condition are the most sought after.
Authentication is critical: Broders has been reproduced extensively, and photomechanical facsimiles of his most popular works circulate widely in the market. Genuine PLM-period originals were printed by specific Paris printers (principally Lucien Serre & Cie and Alliance Graphique) and carry their imprints at the base of the sheet. Under magnification, genuine originals show the characteristic grain of period chromolithographic printing.
Elie Saporta, co-founder of La Belle Époque and former chair of the IVPDA authentication committee, has handled Broders originals throughout his four-decade career. Every work in the gallery’s collection has been assessed against these standards.
About the author: Elie Saporta is the co-founder of La Belle Époque Vintage Posters (est. 1985, New York) and a former chair of the IVPDA authentication committee.
Browse Broders and the Travel Collection
Browse the full travel poster collection for Broders works and related Art Deco travel advertising. Inquire directly about specific Broders titles — we actively source PLM material and can advise on availability and current market values.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Roger Broders?
Roger Broders (1883–1953) was a French graphic artist best known for his series of travel posters for the PLM (Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée) railway company in the 1920s. His posters depicting the French Riviera and Alpine destinations are considered masterpieces of Art Deco travel poster design.
What is a PLM poster?
PLM (Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée) was a major French railway company that served the south of France and Mediterranean destinations. Its poster commissions of the 1910s and 1920s produced some of the finest travel poster art of the Belle Époque and Art Deco periods, with artists including Broders, Hugo d’Alési, and others.
How much are Roger Broders posters worth?
Authentic Roger Broders PLM-period originals in very good condition typically sell for several thousand to low five figures depending on subject, size, and condition. The most sought-after Riviera subjects command the highest prices. Condition is critical — works with significant paper loss, heavy fold lines, or fading command substantially lower premiums.