A brief history of Poster

The Poster design was one of the earliest forms of advertisement and began to develop as a medium for
visual communication in the early 19th century. They influenced the development of typography
because they were meant to be read from a distance and required larger type to be produced, usually
from wood rather than metal. The poster quickly spread around the world and became a staple of the
graphic design trade. Many artists as well, such as Henry Toulouse-Latrec and Henry van de Velde,
created posters.

They were used to promote various political parties, recruit soldiers, advertise products and spread
ideas to the general public. The artists of the international typographic style of design believed that it
was the most effective tool for communication and their contributions to the field of design arose from
the effort to perfect the poster. Even with the popularity of the internet posters are still being created
every single day for all sorts of reasons.

The Birth of the Lithographic Poster design (1880 – 1895)

The process of lithography print was invented in the year of 1798, however for decades it was a sluggish
and expensive for any sort of poster production. During these period posters used to be of simple wood
or metal engravings with little color or design. This changed around in the year of 1880 with Cheret’s
stone lithographic process. This was a breakthrough which allowed artists to achieve every color in the
rainbow with as little as three stones – usually red, yellow and blue – printed in careful registration.

Cheret’s process nevertheless still demanded superb artistry and remarkable craftsmanship. The result
was worthwhile – a remarkable intensity of color and texture, with sublime transparencies and nuances
impossible in other media (even to this day). The ability to combine word and image in such an
attractive and economical format finally allowed the lithographic poster to usher in the modern age of
advertising. An extremely gifted artist as well, Cheret ushered in that age by creating more than 1000
posters over a 30 year career.

Jules Cheret, Eldorado (Courrier Francais edition), 1894

Jules Cheret, Eldorado (Courrier Francais edition), 1894

Insets of Italian cities, with floral border; orange, green, pink, blue
Cussetti, Paris Lyon Mediterranee – Italie, 1895

Musicians and a festival scene with moon in the background; red, blue, yellow, orange, red

Jules Cheret, Musee Grevin (before letters), 1900

1890 – 1900: The Belle Epoque & Art Nouveau

In 1891, Toulouse-Lautrec’s extraordinary first poster, Moulin Rouge, elevated the status of the poster
to fine art and touched off a poster craze. During the 1890s, referred to as the Belle Epoque in France,
poster exhibitions, magazines and dealers proliferated; the pioneering Parisian dealer Sagot listed 2200
different posters in his catalog!

Just three years later, Alphonse Mucha, a Czech working in Paris, created the first masterpiece of Art
Nouveau poster design. Bearing multiple influences including the Pre-Raphaelites, the Arts and Crafts
Movement, and Byzantine art – this flowering, ornate style became the major international decorative
art movement up until World War I.

In each country, the poster was used to celebrate the society’s unique cultural institutions. In France,
the cafe and cabaret was omnipresent; in Italy the opera and fashion; in Spain the bullfight and festivals;
in Germany trade fairs and magazines, in Britain and America literary journals, bicycles, and the circus.

Despite cross-pollination, distinctive national styles also became apparent – Dutch posters were marked
by restraint and orderliness; Italian posters by their drama and grand scale; German posters for their
directness and medieval influence.

Shadowed man in top hat with can-can dancer in background; red, yellow, black

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Moulin Rouge, 1891

A half clothed woman on a sofa with a finished champagne glass while a lover fondles her; red, black
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Catalogue d’Affiches Artistiques / A. Arnould (Debauche), 1896

Robbed woman on a road; red, green, blue, yellow

Louis Rhead, The Sun, 1894

Devil like figure holds head, nude woman lights matches; yellow, blue, green, black

Adolfo Hohenstein, Fiammiferi Senza Fosforo (small), 1895 ca.

Blonde woman with paintbrush, woods and vase behind; blue, black, yellow, green

Alfred Mohrbutter, Kunst Austellung – Crefeld, 1897

1900 – 1914: The New Century & Early Modernism

By 1900, Art Nouveau had lost much of its dynamism through sheer imitation and repetition. The death
of Toulouse-Lautrec in 1901 and the abandonment of poster art by Mucha and Cheret (who both turned
to painting) left a void that was filled by a young Italian caricaturist named Leonetto Cappiello, who
arrived in Paris in 1898.

Strongly influenced by Cheret and Toulouse-Lautrec, Cappiello rejected the fussy detail of Art Nouveau.
Instead he focused on creating one simple image, often humorous or bizarre, which would immediately
capture the viewer’s attention and imagination on a busy boulevard. This ability to create a brand
identity established Cappiello as the father of modern advertising. His style would dominate Parisian
poster art until Cassandre’s first Art Deco poster in 1923.

Meanwhile, artists working in Scotland’s Glasgow School, Austria’s Vienna Secession, and Germany’s
Deutscher Werkbund also were transforming Art Nouveau’s organic approach. These schools rejected
curvilinear ornamentation in favor of a rectilinear and geometric structure based on functionalism.
A key outgrowth of these modernist efforts was the German Plakatstil, or Poster Style, which was begun
in 1905 by Lucian Bernhard in Berlin and in Munich by Ludwig Hohlwein. Minimalized naturalism and
emphasis on flat colors and shapes made their work the next step towards creating an abstract, more
modern visual language.

Street scene with everyone reading newspaper; black, yellow, blue

Polya Tibor, Mindenki Az Uj Nemzedeket Olvassa (Everyone Reads The New Generation), 1910 ca.

Man's hands playing Hofbauer brand piano; black, blue, red, gray

August Fischinger, Hofbauer Klavier – Fabrik, circa 1910

Crowd of gymnastics athletes in position; brown, red, blue

Eduard Renggli, 56. Eidgenossisches Turnfest in Basel, 1912

Man and woman in evening dress; red, yellow, black, green

Leonetto Cappiello, Mele: Novita Per Signora (Green), 1903

Woman in wild feathery dress smokes cigarette, uses breath freshener; green, yellow, red

Leonetto Cappiello, Cachou Lajaunie, 1920

1914 – 1919: World War I & the Bolshevik Revolution

World War I meant a new role for the poster: propaganda. The war ushered in the biggest advertising
campaign to date, critical to the wartime communication needs of every combatant: from raising
money, recruiting soldiers, and boosting volunteer efforts, to spurring production and provoking outrage
at enemy atrocities. Utilizing contemporary Madison Avenue techniques, America alone produced about
2,500 striking poster designs and approximately 20 million posters – nearly 1 for every 4 citizens – in
little more than 2 years.

The lessons of brilliant American advertising in WWI posters were not lost on the Bolsheviks, who
turned to poster art to help win their civil war against the Whites. Lenin and his followers proved to be
the pioneering masters of modern propaganda, and the poster became a weapon of choice throughout
the century in both hot and cold wars everywhere.

Soldiers climb hill towards explosion; red, black

Metal workers at railroad yard factory; red, black

Dimitri Moor, 1 May – an all-Russian Voluntary Workday, 1920

American eagle guides flotilla of American warships; red, yellow, blue, green

James H. Daugherty, Send the Eagle’s Answer, 1918

Soldiers hoist rifles with helmets, heraldic flags; blue, red, black

Vojtech Pressig, Czechoslovaks! Join our free colors!, 1918