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Credit and appreciation are given to the following authors and organizations whose valuable research and information form the basis of "HISTORY".
We recommend that you read their publications for more excellent poster facts.
- Jack Rennert Posters of the Belle Epoch, New York
- IVPDA (International Vintage Poster Dealers Association) Poster Brochure, New York
- Lucy Broido: The Posters of Jules Cheret, New York
- International Poster gallery. Boston
A Little About Posters
Before radio and television could saturate the nation and world with ads for soap products and soft drinks, there was no easy way to share information with a large number of people. Jules Cheret, a young French printer, came to the rescue in 1850 with his creation of the three-color lithograph process. This new ability to combine words and images in an eye-catching, economical format enabled the poster to become the major means of mass communication in Europe and America.
By the 1870’s Paris was a gaudy mélange of posters; they were pasted to kiosks, train stations, buildings, carriages and pissoirs. They advertised everything: sporting and cultural events, new products, political protests, book publications and beautiful women.
In France, the poster quickly became an art form.
In America, the most common posters were letterpress announcements of upcoming events such as slave auctions, circuses. “Wanted” posters covered the walls of post offices and banks. The text was the thing in the 18th and 19th century American posters.
Posters were not considered art, but merely a means of relaying information to the public.
French culture promoted poster art. Rapidly growing cities, and expanded commerce and industry created new wealth among a large number of people. A middle class was born, with discretionary income and leisure time to help them revel in their new status and lifestyle. They read, went to the theater, and learned to appreciate music and art. Literature flourished. Lavish illustrations and appealing covers became the style. Bookstores became more commercial, and often placed small cardboard placards in their windows to display an illustration from a new book or its cover. Thus art joined text in the poster.
(Rennert, pbe)
The first real poster exhibition occurred on the Right Bank in Paris in 1884. A significant poster show was held in Nantes in 1889. Posters were displayed by the “clothespin” system. They were clipped to a long string, and hung border to border from the top of the wall almost to the floor. These early poster exhibits showcased the early era of poster art, dominated by Jules Cheret.
Thank you, Mr. Senefelder
There wouldn’t be posters as we know them today without Aloys Senefelder. He created the process of stone lithography in 1798. Until this innovation, printing was expensive and tedious. Flat metal or wood plates were used, in a long, slow process that printed a small number of copies. Senefelder replaced these plates with flat Bavarian limestone slabs, and the widespread use of posters became a reality.
Lithography is based on the fact that grease and water don’t mix. The artist uses a grease pencil to draw an image on a lithography stone. The stone is porous, so it holds the greasy design. The stone is placed in an acid water bath. The acid eats away a thin layer of the stone, but leaves the image because it’s protected by the grease pencil. Then the poster is printed. The stone is attached to a printing press, ink is rolled on the stone, and a sheet of paper is pressed. The greased areas leave an ink outline, creating a single-color lithograph.
Cheret steps in
Jules Cheret, a young French printer, saw enormous lithograph posters at a World’s Fair during the 1850’s, and immediately recognized their artistic potential. He apprenticed with a lithographer in London to learn the process. In 1866 he found a benefactor; Eugene Rimmel, a wealthy perfume manufacturer, helped Cheret buy lithographic machines in England, and set up a printing studio in Paris.
But lithography was still a one-color process. Cheret created the technique of color lithography, and elevated it to an art form. By using three colors on three separate stones, and careful registration, artists could achieve a full spectrum of color. The basic method was to use successive stones of red, yellow and blue. Cheret’s earliest posters were printed in one or two colors on tinted paper, or in red and green, strongly outlined in black. Over the years he developed techniques for blending colors and for overprinting and spattering, which permitted a more refined use of color.
Another Cheret color technique was fond gradue, which produced a gradated background. He placed cool tones, blues and green, at the top half of the poster and warmer tones, yellow or orange, at the bottom. This process allowed him to integrate color within the poster image.
In1889 he created crachis , a process that used spattered ink and a lithographic crayon. Crachis allowed him to create an atmospheric effect. By this time his palette had expanded from three to more than six colors
Cheret’s use of color changed over the years; critics have said that his best period began after a trip to Spain in 1891 where he was deeply impacted by the country’s bright colors. After that time, his art incorporated warmer colors, reds and oranges against cool greens and strong blues. His new style personified the “theory of complimentary colors.” (Jules Cheret book)
Jules Cheret is credited with bringing the poster inside. His decorative panels, similar to posters but without lettering, were made to be framed and hung indoors. These large, nonposter lithographs, called estampes or panneau decoratifs, provided a less-expensive alternative to paintings.
Recognizing that poster art needed its own unique style in order to quickly capture the public’s attention, he integrated text in the poster image and combined this with flowing movement and beautiful women. The Cheret women, Les Cherettes, became an early trademark of his designs; dreamy, flimsily clad, floating females who proved that sexually appealing images can effectively sell just about anything!
Cheret brought life to the poster world and art to the poster.He produced more than 1,000 poster designs, and is considered to be the most prolific of the early poster artists, as well as an advertising genius. (Rennert,) In recognition of his contributions to the art world, in 1899 he was awarded membership in the prestigious French Legion of Honor. It’s no wonder that he is regarded as the father of the modern poster.
Different Strokes: The Classicists
This group of artists also worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but differed from Cheret in their approach to poster art. Originally trained as classic, traditional painters, they were not particularly interested in selling products. Instead they were intrigued by mythological, religious and medieval themes. Rennert calls these artists the Classicists.
Eugene Grasset (1845-1917) is the poster child for the classic style. Born in Switzerland, he did it all. Beginning as an architect, he moved to Paris and became an artist of all trades. He worked with fabrics, tapestry, jewelry, and ceramics, and then went on to design magazine covers, illustrate books, and create postage stamps. In the midst of these activities, he designed the interior of the Chat Noir cabaret and created a mosaic for a church.
Formality, romanticism and medieval influences prevail through all of his work. He was a strong supporter of the decorative arts has been credited for being the advance man for Art Nouveau.
LA BELLE EPOCH 1890-1914
“The beautiful time”, and the height of French poster fever and fashion. In 1891 Toulouse-Lautrec’s first poster, Moulin Rouge, boosted the status of the poster from ephemera to fine art. Posters took over the cities of Europe, with subjects that varied from country to country. In France, the café was the center of life. Some Parisians ate three times a day at cafés, where they drank and people watched with their meals. Absinthe, champagne and other alcoholic beverages were main advertising topic.
Italy produced dramatic, large scale opera and fashion posters. Spain, as would be expected, celebrated the bullfight, while Germany promoted her trade fairs and magazines. In America, the poster was still in early development. Circus and literary journal posters were the most frequently seen. (IVPDA)
Bohemians Take Over
Cheret’s color stone lithography laid the groundwork for the modern poster, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec brought it to the forefront in the 1890’s. His bold compositions, simple incisive lines, and expert use of angles and perspectives introduced a whole new style in poster art. Toulouse-Lautrec and his artist followers made obvious statements in their poster designs. Jack Rennert calls this “caricature plus”. A caricature makes comments by the use of distortion, insult, and exaggeration, but these artists were much more subtle. Instead of insulting or attacking, they captured the publicsattention and created smiles.
Mucha IS Art Nouveau
Belle Epoch poster art was again influenced by a new style: Art Nouveau. Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) literally wrote the book on “Documents Decoratif." Every component of this style is seen in Mucha’s art: elaborate, nature-themed ornamentation; idealized female subjects; fine drawing and the use of symbolism and allegory.
Born in what is now Czechoslovakia, Mucha was a starving-artist sort of student in Vienna and Munich, but when he moved to Paris things picked up. It was during the Christmas holiday and Sarah Bernhardt needed a poster immediately. The city’s leading poster artists were busy, Bernhardt reluctantly used Mucha. His poster was immediately an overwhelming success, and Mucha became the Theatre Queen’s favorite artist.
Mucha also became affiliated with several elite beverage companies. His poster for Ruinart, the first champagne company, featured an elegance demune young woman, seemed to personify elegance except for her hair, which had taken on a life of its own. This out of control coiffure hinted the "heady" effects of Champagne Ruinart. Mucha’s lovely poster girls often told much about the poster, with their hair.
In addition to Champagne Ruinart, Moet and Chandon recognized Mucha’s artistic and advertising genius and hired him to create all of their commercial designs. He also madea variety of posters for cognac and Benedictine.
Considered to be a master lithographer and colorist, Mucha created about 100 posters and decorative panels. Today, his body of work continues to be admired and collected. Special exhibits of his posters have traveled the world
And in Sharp Contrast
While Toulouse-Lautrec and his Bohemian circle’s designs might be called “caricature", plus the next group of poster artists was the real thing. Their designs were simple, flat, linear drawings, accentuated by exaggerated facial and body features. Theophile Steinlen may be the best known of this group. As a young artist, Steinlen moved from Switzerland to Paris in about 1880, where he became friends with the owner of the Chat Noir cabaret and publisher of the Chat Noir magazine. This connection gave Steinlen an opportunity to publish some of his drawings. Over his lifetime he published thousands of drawings in many journals. In 1885 he began his poster career. His political views were reflected in his drawings, where he always showed sensitivity to the poor and disadvantaged, and sympathy for the advancement of human values.
For most of us, Steinlen’s works mean a whimsical design featuring his family, especially his wife and daughter, and their cats. Women were depicted as respected human beings trying to do their best. He showed them with warmth, tenderness and pride, and glorified the common working girl. Steinlen’s depiction of women contrasted sharply with the attitude of other poster artists. Cheret treated women as mysterious, vaporous beings who brought happiness to their viewers. Grasset saw them as innocent angels. Mucha made them symbols of beauty and desire. De Feure showed them as evil, while Toulouse-Lautrec showed them as personifications of corruption.
Moving Right Along
In the next style of poster art, designs became more like photographs. These artists, when Rennert calls the “Illustrators” depicted their scenes in greatly detailed realistic fantasies. These artist wanted to involve the viewer in the scene, create a sense of intimacy and, then compel him to buy the product.
Jean de Paleologue (“Pal”) typifies this poster style. Pal is known particularly for his sensuous designs and voluptuous women. The bicycle became a dominant social force in the 1890’s, and cycle companies frequently used Pal posters to promote their products.
The really fun poster designs became stylish during this period. “The Naughty Nineties” provided ample opportunities for subject matter. Jules-Alexandre Grun uses naughty young women and dirty old men in scenes of great hilarity to promote upcoming events and happening locations.
Firmin Bouisset specialized in painting children. For many people, he has immortalized Chocolat Menier and its little charming girl artist, and Lefevre-Utile’s Lu-Lu biscuits. The studious Lu-Lu boy still appears today on boxes of Lu-Lu cookies. (Try the dark chocolate ones.)
As The Century Turns
After the turn of the century the poster craze declined, particularly in Paris. Cheret began to paint, and Toulouse-Lautrec died after creating only 30 posters. His colleague Paul Berthon died in 1909. Mucha moved to America, and eventually back home to Czechoslovakia.
Along with the end of the Belle Epoch came the decline of Art Nouveau. Although it remained the major international art movement until World War I, its novelty and appeal waned. Few poster catalogues were published, and poster shows became obsolete. Cheret’s Master of the Poster series, Maitres d’Affiches, ended in 1900.
Cappiello Saves the Day
As a young man in Italy, Leonetto Cappiello (1875-1942) wanted to be a great artist. His dreams were eventually answered, but not on canvas. Instead, his quick, funny little sketches, scribbled off while he was working on his serious art, immortalized him. Today he is recognized as the Father of Modern Advertising.
A visit to his brother in Paris triggered Cappiello’s career. Magazines were highly popular, and paid well for caricatures. He soon sold a few sketches to the magazine
Le Rire, and quickly became the new favorite artist of Parisian cabaret and theatre stars.
Cappiello incorporated bits and pieces from his poster art forefathers, particularly Cheret and Toulouse-Lautrec, rejected the fussy detail of Art Nouveau, and came up with a totally new approach to advertising. Cappiello focused on selling a product. He knew that it was imperative for a poster image to seize the passerby’s attention, and be remembered. Cappiello drew attention to the advertised product, often without picturing it in the poster image. Instead, he used symbolism.
Cappiello’s designs immediately made a bold, striking impact. He used plain, often black backgrounds to showcase his simple, eye-catching images of beautiful women, humorous people and incongruous animals, often in close up. His exaggerated colors and bizaar situations shocked, surprised and amused the public.
Manufacturers of a variety of products, from cigarettes, perfumes, corsets and soap, to champagne and absinthe-laden beverages, commissioned him to design posters. He created designs for French, Italian, Spanish, Belgian and English advertisers and produced more than 3,000 posters
Cappiello’s concept of brand identity became the foundation of modern advertising. His
unique style lasted for 25 years, until 1923 when Cassandre’s first Art Deco poster was printed. His memorable “Green Devil” Maurin Quina Absinthe poster is an excellent example of his style.
The War
World War I dramatically changed the poster’s focus, and stimulated the largest advertising campaign to date. Communication was an integral part of the war effort; posters were the ideal solution. Typical war posters urged the public to buy war bonds, enlist in the military, volunteer, boost production, and despise the enemy. Huge numbers of posters were printed during WWI. In the United States, approximately 20 million posters were printed in two years.
These wartime posters caught the attention of the Bolsheviks, who in turn used them as propaganda tools in their civil war against the Whites. Lenin set the standard for making the poster a major weapon that could be used in wars everywhere.
Paul Colin: Between the Wars
The years between the world wars was the era of Paul Colin. Colin integrated several fine and graphic art styles, theatre styles, and the current social and political culture of France to reflect the spirit of the times.
Colin made three types of posters. His early designs were for the performing arts, primarily theater, dance, music hall and film. Most Americans recognize his work in this category. Examples include The Revue Negre; Maya; Tabarin; and Casino de Paris: Mitty, Tillio and Ricaus. This period during the 1930’s, known as Le Tumulte Noir, (the black tumult) was when Paris fell in love with black American singers, dancers and musicians. Colin has been credited for discovering Josephine Baker and promoting her with many memorable posters. .
Frenchmen remember him best as a humanist who designed many posters for worthy causes and national events. Colin was also a staunch French patriot, evidenced in the posters Liberation, Silence, and the 1937 Paris Expo.
Colin’s third type of posters was commercial advertments. He created posters for many major companies, including Peugeot, Dunlop and Marconi.
Colin preferred zinc rather than stone lithography because it allowed him to draw the image, his lithographers could trace them onto the zinc plates, then Colin could mark corrections as the proofs were being pulled.
Power and Speed: Art Deco
After the First World War, decorative art moved toward the modern machine age. Artists began to use simple, streamlined shapes, and sleek, angular letters. Art Deco became popular during the 1925 Arts Decoratif Expo in Paris. Art Nouveau’s flowing, detailed posters and Cappiello’s flat, bright caricatures were replaced by the geometric images of Cassandre. This new style, Art Deco, was influenced by other modern art movements, particularly Cubism and Futurism.
In the 1930’s Art Deco was often referred to as the “Cassandre Style,” named for its most famous artist Adolfe Mourin Cassandre. His sleek images of speeding trains and towering ships are still admired as exemplary examples of Art Deco. Cassandre created almost all of his posters between 1925-1935, and then moved on to painting and theatre design. His "Normandie" poster exemplifies his style.
By World War II, radio and newspapers became the poster’s major competitors. Most posters were printed in photo offset, a mass production method similar to the dot pattern used in newspapers. Photography in posters became common. The lithographic poster was a thing of the past after television appeared in the early 1950’s.
Post-Modern Posters
Beginning in the 1960’s the poster style became known as Post-Modern design. Offset photolithography is used in most of today’s high volume commercial printing. This process evolved from the same basic concepts of stone lithography. A half-tone screened offset image is transferred from an aluminum lithographic plate onto a rubberized printing blanket. The printing blanket transfers the image onto paper. But the finished product cannot compare with the images created by the masters of stone lithography.
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