An exhibit of French chocolate posters from the late 1800s and early 1900s is currently on display at Paris’s chocolate museum, Le Musée Gourmand du Chocolat.

The prints on display as part of Images Exquises (exquisite pictures) are from the private collection of Guido Odin and his son Sammy, founders of the Musée de la Poupée (Paris doll museum). They reflect the theme of childhood and its aesthetics, one that was frequently used by the chocolate industry in its advertising at the time.

The chocolate posters were created through colour lithography, an early method of producing colour prints that was first patented in France in the mid-1800s.

Chocolatiers used the prints for publicity, or gave them away as promotional gifts or customer rewards.

The exhibit is presented in two parts, a display of antique dolls and prints, followed by a display of prints grouped by chocolatier. Among the chocolatiers represented are Guérin-Boutron, Louit, Magniez-Baussart, Masson, Payraud, and Poulain.

Images Exquises, which opened last fall, runs until March 11, 2012. A complementary exhibit of colour lithographs is on display at the Musée de la Poupée (impasse Berthaud, 75003 Paris).

What: Images Exquises, early prints of French chocolatiers, 1875 to 1915
When: runs until March 11, 2012
Admission: 9 euros, or 14 euros for combined admission to sister exhibition at Musée de la Poupée
Where: Choco-Story, le Musée Gourmand du Chocolat, 28, boulevard de Bonne Nouvelle, 75010 Paris
Métro: Bonne Nouvelle
Tel. +33 (0)1 42 29 68 60
Hours: open every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.