Poster Art - From Street Announcements to Cultural Icons

1. The birth of the poster

The poster as we know it today began to develop after 1860, its appearance being linked to the evolution of graphics and photography, techniques without which the new plastic genre is unthinkable. They first appeared in France, being used to promote products, and then in less than 10 years they came to be used to promote theatrical performances. In the first lithographs (it is a printing method using a plate or stone with a perfectly smooth surface), colors were used very rarely, and the illustration never integrated the text. This was changed by Jules Cheret , the undisputed father of the modern poster. Cheret introduced vivid designs, combining illustration and text, using bright colors, fewer and larger shapes, the message being thus coherent. His main motif was the smile of a cheerful Parisian woman, which was dazzling to the viewer. Paris was the center of poster art.

2. The poster in the Art Nouveau period

In the 1890s, the poster discovered the stylistic peculiarities of Art Nouveau. The ornamental style that flourished between 1890 and 1910 throughout Europe and the United States of America was most prominently manifested in the posters of the young Czech living in Paris: Alphonse Maria Mucha , who combined a Byzantine style and a subtle use of color, having an immediate success.

Of course, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 's poster work is equally valuable. From 1888, his posters began to illustrate theaters, cafes, and the slum life of Paris.

3. The New Century

In England, the Beggarstaff Brothers were the first artists to highlight more than simple illustrations enlarged with text. They reduced the text to a minimum and designed simpler and more rigorous compositions in shapes. In France, the Italian caricaturist Leonetto Cappiello tried to combine the style of Cheret 's posters with simple shapes and compositions in the Beggarstaff style . After 1905 in Berlin, a new type of poster was born that slowly began to conquer the city. The author, a young man named Lucian Bernhard gave birth to the poster that places the object/product in the center of attention, slowly eliminating those feminine forms that appeared on posters until then. Bernhard dramatically simplified the use of form, colors now arranged in flat spots, which together with the design were incorporated realistically.

During World War I, the political poster was born, becoming a powerful propaganda tool (today it is impossible to imagine a country without it). It contained powerful messages that influenced history, such as: raising morale, collecting money, recruiting soldiers, defaming the enemy and patriotic fervor, but also support for the war. The impact of the poster was immediate.

After World War I, the increasingly industrialized society came to have a different relationship with art, being influenced by movements such as Cubism , Futurism , and Surrealism , which played an important role in the development of the poster in the 1920s, as well as the De Stijl , Bauhaus , and Constructivism groups in Russia.

After 1930, posters became even more simplified, moving towards lyrical abstraction, with the design becoming more pictorial, anecdotal and humorous. The emphasis was more on entertainment, now present in the context of modernism. During World War II, the poster played the same role of propaganda and support for the war, but this time it had formidable competition from radio and television. The new spirit present in poster art can now be seen in the work of Raymond Savignac , whose simplified illustration style spread in France, Poland and the United States. In Switzerland, the works of Hans Erni, Donald Brun and Herbert Leupin are worth mentioning in this regard.

The increasing influence of radio and television led to a redefinition of what the poster entails. Pop art and the movements of the mid-1960s led to the birth of the psychedelic poster, which was somewhat a combination of the influence of rock music and drug use. In the last half of the 20th century, the computer greatly facilitates the creation of digital images and texts. Posters connect the whole world and function as social and artistic barometers of everyday cultural, economic and political issues.

Posters today can even be used to decorate your own homes. Here are some ideas:

Art and hobby supply stores offer a multitude of products to help you hang these works/posters on the wall without too much effort.