The Montreux Jazz Festival gave carte blanche to French illustrator Malika Favre to create the poster for the 51st edition.

Malika Favre’s “free, strong, and sensual” women certainly convey a captivating beat. Painstakingly traced out, the rhythmic, elegant lines reveal a twofold reading. Six instruments subtly emerge in the negative spaces, matching the curves of the wavy dancers. “I have always loved hiding things in my drawings, the artist explains. With the dancers, I went with that slightly crazy energy that was going every which way! But I also wanted to bring a more traditional jazz touch with the instruments.”

Malika Favre © Tom Robinson

“Less is More” could serve as the motto for Malika Favre, a French illustrator based in London. Her immediately recognizable style – double reading, minimalism – has garnered her covers for Penguin Books and magazines including The New Yorker and Vogue.