Poster Collecting
I guess the first thing we should talk about Poster collecting is about the history of Posters. Posters started out as a way of advertising and then quickly became an art craze.
Time has overtaken the posters and the modern day equivalents (huge led displays) have replaced them.
The Birth of the Poster
Lithography was invented in 1798 by Aloys Senefelder and was employed by nineteenth century painters using woodblocks or metal engravings with little color and was very small in size. Jules Cheret changed all this with a breakthrough in 1876 that used a three stone lithographic process that allowed every color to be printed, usually with red, yellow and blue as a base. The process was difficult but the intensity of color and texture produced was a powerful innovation. Large stones were used to print the vibrant colors which also allowed for bigger sized paper to be used. Both print and exciting artistic images were coupled to produce the birth of the large advertising poster. Started in the 1870’s, the poster became the new means of mass communication and blossomed into the modern age of advertising products and events.
By the 1890’s, the poster craze was in full bloom and the otherwise drab streets of growing cities such as Paris, Berlin, Rome and Milan were transformed into decorative, bright areas with colorful advertising posters done by some of the finest artists of the time. These large posters coupled word and image with the intensity of color and nuances which transformed the streets into a virtual open air gallery.
The craze for lithographic posters bloomed in the 1890’s in France and was called the ear of “Belle Epoque.” Many noted artists of that day, such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Jules Cheret, PAL, Misti, Meunier, Pean, Grun, Choubrac, Alphonse Muncha and many others were contributors to this charmingadvertising art as it was a great way to exhibit their talents to the broadest public exposure. The public in turn, fell in love with poster art that spawned the passion of collecting the poster art. Poster dealers, exhibitions and magazines proliferated as the public became enchanted with this vibrant, powerful new art form. Poster collecting became the rage and elevated the status of a poster to fine art. The fashionable collecting of posters was brought into the homes as the public saw this as a charming new way to decorate.
The popularity of the poster craze was so strong that it was said that people would occasionally go out in the middle of the night and steal freshly hung posters right off a wall where they were placed. These found their way into homes and eager print sellers desiring this vibrant art. Many collectors would amass up to 500 posters for their private collections.
As the poster collecting interest grew, it also made its way across to America, where zealous collectors also revered this dynamic art form. By about 1896, there was known to be at least 6000 active American poster collectors. Fortunately all these avid collectors did much to the survival of vintage posters. Had it not been for them, this poster art would not have been available today.
Authentic vintage poster collecting continues to be very popular today. It is a reasonable fine art form that appreciates in value as well as being lovely to use as a decoration. Poster art is also hung and exhibited in all the major art museums throughout the world.
As with any authentic art form, advertising posters are becoming increasingly hard to find and the search to acquire them becomes more difficult with time. In today’s world, we seldom find posters available that are in an unblemished state or flawless in appearance. Many have experienced some marring or aging over time and are not often pristine in their preservations. At Bowman Poster Art, we currently have some 2,500 original posters from the 1880’s through modern times. We feature small posters to full sized billboards and many famous artists are in our collection of our offerings. We provide the expertise in building or embellishing your collection and love of vintage poster art.
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