1. Posters
Printed on one side only, broadsides are used to issue public decrees, governmental notifications and a host of commercial and private announcements.
Early broadsides were quickly and crudely produced in large quantities and distributed freely in town squares, taverns, and churches. Some were sold by itinerate salesman, or chapmen, for a nominal charge. Broadsides were intended to have an immediate impact and then to be discarded.
Items printed for short term consumption are referred to as printed ephemera.
Posters grew more sophisticated as printing technologies and artistic movements evolved. Illustrators and graphic designers were afforded a medium for public artistic expression while promoting the products of their client. Many type faces, specifically drawn to compliment illustrations, inspired new metal type. Immensely popular and affordable, posters were made available to the general public who purchased them to display in their homes.
While in the 18th and 19th centuries most urban areas had public spaces allotted for posters, there is increasingly less space available for posting broadsides today.
Shown above is the Declaration of Independence broadside by John Dunlap, a government printer and publisher in Philadelphia in 1776.
2. A Need for Large Type
Broadsides were meant to be read from a distance and therefore required large type. Metal type could not be cast much larger than an inch and still retain the flat surface required for letterpress relief printing. Twelve line pica was the largest size feasible in metal type but in actual practice wood type was used for larger sizes. The image above is a sample from the Bruce's New York Foundry specimen book of 1869 available for on-line viewing at this link. I highly recommended looking at this or other specimen books of that era to appreciate the variety of type available to designers.
There were a number of negative factors of large metal type, it was expensive, required a large amount of storage space, and was extremely heavy—just try lifting a case of this type!
If a printer did have a collection of large metal type, it was likely that they didn't have enough letters in the same face to set many words so type styles were mixed and matched depending on what was in the shop collection. Often wooden type was mixed with metal type in a conglomeration of styles.
3. Wooden Type
Commercial pressure for large type was answered with the invention of a system for wood type production. In 1827 Darius Wells (1800-1875) invented a special wood drill, the lateral router, capable of cutting letters on type-high end-cut wood blocks. The router was used in combination with William Leavenworth's pantograph (1834) to create decorative wooden letters of all sizes and shapes. In 1880 James Hamilton developed a method of adhering a veneer made of holly wood onto a pine base. Within a decade he converted to the standard end-cut method. (Thanks to David Shields for his expertise in this section)
Visit the Rob Roy Kelly American Wood Type Collection here.
Rob Roy Kelly (1925–2004) was a designer and educator who researched and collected 19th century American wood type. His oeuvre is held at the University of Texas at Austin where a wonderful on-line resource is waiting for you to peruse.
4. Lithographic Posters
The process of lithography depends on the mutual repulsion of grease and water. It was invented by Alois Senefelder in 1796 as he searched for an alternative process to expensive metal plate engraving. His method involved drawing with a greasy crayon onto finely surfaced Bavarian limestone and offsetting that image onto paper. In later commercial applications metal plates were used.
This direct process captures the artist's true intention, however the final printed image is in reverse. The images and lettering needed to be drawn backwards, often reflected in a mirror or traced backwards on a transfer paper. A distinct advantage of lithography was the ability to hand draw letters, opening the field of type design to endless styles.
Two great visuals on how lithography works:
UTube movie explanation of lithography
See the MOMA animation of the process here.
5. The Belle Époque 1880–1914
In industrialized nations the Industrial Revolution created a new middle class, one with a surplus of leisure time and expendable income. In France this economic growth coincided with a period of peace and frivolity known as the Belle Époque (Beautiful Era). An important visual element of the Belle Epoque, especially in Paris, was the lithographic poster. Although first used to market goods and theatrical entertainment, the poster transformed into a collectable and affordable work of art for middle class homes.
This was a golden era of illustration and graphic design. The large format of posters allowed designers to make a commanding public presentation and illustrator's names were popularly recognized. Typefaces were derived from unique lettering designed to compliment illustrations. Posters were the main vehicle for advertising prior to the magazine era. Unfortunately the public also became conditioned to the images of young women, often in partial dress, used as shills for product advertising.
Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923) designed the Eiffel Tower for the Paris Exposition of 1889 at the height of the Belle Époque.
6. The Ukiyo-e Influence
In the 1850's Japan's borders opened for the first time since 1637, partly due to pressure applied by US Admiral Matthew Perry. Ukiyo-e prints were exported to the west and influenced painters and graphic artists including Degas, Van Gogh and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.
Ukiyo-e paintings incorporated traditional elements of emaki (picture scrolls) and decorative designs. The term Ukiyo-e translates as pictures of the floating world, a reference to the theater and tea house districts of Tokyo. Ukiyo-e wood block prints were used as posters to advertise theatrical performances, brothels, popular actors and beautiful teahouse girls. The earliest Ukiyo-e prints were spare black and white line prints, sometimes hand-colored. Later Ukiyo-e artists and book illustrators created rich colors using multi-block printing processes.
Ukiyo-e characteristics embraced by Europeans and expressed in their poster art:
• Black contour outline
• Flat bright colors
• Flat Figures
7. Jules Cheret
In chromolithography (color lithography) each color had to be printed separately, requiring careful registration. Jules Cheret revamped the process by developing his famous three stone process, which allowed printers to achieve every color in the rainbow with as little as three separate lithographic stones — primarily using red, yellow and blue transparent inks. When the transparent inks overlapped a new color was created.
Cheret's subject matter dealt mainly with the gaieties of Parisian night life in theatres and cafes. His posters sold not only products but an image—the image of the ideal life and the ideal woman. Although probably not a novel concept, Cheret's use of pretty young women to advertise retail products was widely copied. His fantasized provocative beauties, dubbed "Chêrettes," (often 8 feet tall) were an unhealthy first step towards media promoting impossible body types for women.
8. The "Maîtres de l'Affiche
Reputable artists were willing to design posters due to the medium's growing prestige. These artistic prints were so popular that they were stolen off of walls almost as soon as they were hung. Cheret organized the first group exhibition of posters in 1884 and two years later published the first book on poster art.
He further capitalized on the public interest by arranging for 97 artists to create posters, at a reduced size of approximately 11 x 15 inches, that were suitable for in-home display. Working with the print house, Chaix, the enterprise was marketed from 1890–1900 under the name "Maîtres de l'Affiche" (Masters of the Poster). Serial editions, each containing five prints, were sold to advance subscribers. With advance funding assured, the posters were printed on high quality paper, not the cheap stock used for temporary outdoor display posters. Some participating artists included Toulouse-Lautrec, Denis, Bonnard, Mucha, Steinlen, Beggarstaffs, Grasset, Penfield, Parrish and Bradley. Collectors can find these prints for sale today. FYI here is one.
Poster Art 's Common Thread — Pretty Young Women: Sensual in Europe, Sensible in the United States
9. Alphonse Mucha, (1860–1939)
Mucha was a Czech painter who moved to Paris and found instant fame after illustrating a theater poster for the renowned actress, Sarah Bernhardt, in 1894. A brilliant series of lithographic prints followed. He was well known for his exaggeratedly abundant hair which exemplified the Art Nouveau style. Try to see his work in person, the gold inks, the colors, the execution, will stop you cold.
Mucha was able to bring his style to noncommercial and smaller scale projects as demonstrated in his book illustrations for the Lord's Prayer, Le Pater, 1899.
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Mucha considered his interpretation of the Lord's prayer, to be his masterpiece. It combines his art, his deep religious faith and his interest in symbolism and the occult.
10. Privat-Livemont, (1861–1936)
Belgium poster designer Privat-Livemont combined the romance of the Pre-Raphaelites and the sensuous style of Art Nouveau with the line and color of Japanese ukiyo-e prints.
"An excellent example of female sensuality used in the service of commerce." (Laura Gold, Ladies of the Poster: The Gold Collection.)
See the above image larger at
a terrific on-line archive of posters from 1889–1918 at Lawrence University.
It's hard to get more exploitive of women, yet he does in his poster advertising the Casino de Cabourg. Note the swimmer, her costume, her "companions," and the size of the casino being promoted.
After short stints studying under a miniaturist painter and at the Cowles School in Boston, Ms. Reed was well on her way to an active career as an illustrator and designer by the age of 21. She is best known for her posters and book covers, influenced by the art nouveau style of her period.
A beauty with a bohemian bent, Ms. Reed often posed in elaborate costumes for photographers and artists. Reportedly fleeing a failed engagement, she left for England where she quickly established a high profile career of freelance illustration for clients including the Yellow Book. Her work was reproduced and favorably reviewed in The Studio magazine. She is often referred to as the first important woman graphic designer in the United States. Unfortunately documentation about her ends after a few years, leaving only speculation about the end of her life.
The exhibition, Ethel Reed and American Graphic Design in the 1890's is on display at the University of Delaware until December 8th, 2010.
12. Edward Penfield (1866–1925)
Along with Will Bradley, Edward Penfield brought an American spin to the European poster style—a spin did not include naked women in sheer drapes. Quite the opposite, American women wore high collars and were chaste, sporty and independent.
Penfield trained in illustration at the Art Student's League in New York under influential teacher George DeForest Brush. In the 1890's Penfield traveled to Europe where he was exposed to Impressionism, European poster artists and Ukiyo-e. Their influences was evidenced in Penfield's simplified forms, flat outlined shapes and graphic compositions. He believed in a direct approach, "A poster should tell as story once—a design that needs study is not a poster.”
From 1891–1901 Penfield worked as art director of Harper and Brothers Periodicals, directing illustrators and layout design. He is best known for his monthly posters advertising Harper's Magazine. Colliers, Saturday Evening Post, Life and Ladies Home Journal all featured his work on their covers.
Read a full description of Penfield's life in Designed to Persuade, The Graphic Art of Edward Penfield by David Gibson, 1984. Available to read here.
L'Aliment le plus concentré 1898
13. Henri Van de Velde(1863–1957)
A early adopter of the art nouveau whiplash line, Van de Velde applied the organic curves to graphics, furniture, accessories and architecture to create a completely integrated environment, a gesamtkunstwerk. Shown above is his only poster design, an abstracted design of egg whites being mechanically separated from egg yolks —one element of a comprehensive design program he created for the Tropon food company. “The rhythmic lines, purely graphic, appeared on everything from packages of powdered egg whites to advertisements and the company's stationery.”*
* For more information about Van de Velde see the National Gallery web site.
Poster artists, including Van de Velde, soon abandoned the art nouveau style for less ornate, more direct imagery.
14. Beggarstaff Brothers
The
English Beggarstaff Brothers were actually William Nicholson (1872–1949) and James Pryde (1866–1941), brothers-in-law, who used a pseudonym to protect their careers as fine art painters. Their commercial work was characterized by stripped down simplicity, abstracted imagery and simple sans serif type.
Practicality was one factor behind their reductive style. As noted in Greg Harris's* description of the duos first commercial assignment, a poster advertising Hamlet. “Wanting to make their work immediate and easily visible from a distance or from passing vehicles, the pair decided to use silhouette, and simplified shape and color. They worked on the poster by cutting out black-and-white paper and pasting it onto a brown background to form their image of Hamlet contemplating Yorick’s skull. The producer was surprised by the lack of color, but paid them. Nicholson stenciled the design onto brown paper for copies to appear around the country.”
*William Nicholson, Exhibition Guide, Sackler Galleries, 2005.
15. The Sachplakat Poster, 1906
Lucien Bernhard's entry in the Priester Match company originally was designed as a complete scenario— a checkered table cloth, matches and a cigar billowing a stream of smoke that morphed into pretty women. Upon realizing that the cigar and table accoutrements were upstaging the matches, Bernhard began reducing the elements—not stopping until only two elements remained, matches and the name of the manufacturer. The unusual stark design attracted the attention of one of the judges who convinced the jury to select it as the winner. This single poster was Bernhard's career springboard. By his early thirties his studio totaled 30 employees. Despite little formal training he taught Poster Art at the Berlin School of Arts and Crafts.
His hand lettered type was copied by type manufacturers which prompted Bernhard to get into type design. His fonts include, Antiqua and Bernhard Antiqua, Bernhard Fraktur, Bernhard Privat, Bernhard Schönschrift, Bernhard Handschrift, Bernhard Fashion, Bernhard Gothic, Negro, Lilli, Lucian, Bernhard Tango, Bernhard Modern™ and Aigrette.
The Priester Match poster set the stage for an entire genre, the Sachplakat, or Object Poster. After World War Two, the Sachplakat reached new heights in Switzerland where the extreme realism appealed to the Swiss sense of precision. The four most recognized practitioners of the style were Birkhäuser, Stoecklin, Leupin and Brun.
“In 1923 Otto Baumberger completed a uniquely Swiss variant of the object poster for PKZ. The poster was a drawing of a life-size coat with wool fibers, silk lining and PKZ label so realistic that most viewers assumed it was a photograph. Aside from the label, the poster had no text.
Above:
In 1934, Peter Birkhäuser's PKZ poster of a hyper-realistic button took the sachplakat to its minimalist extreme.” Quote Source: International Poster
In 1898 Leonetto Cappiello left his native Italy for Paris where he was exposed to the leading posters artists of the era, including Toulouse Lautrec. Cappiello's own distinctive style utilized a black or dark background to create a strong contrast with the product being advertised. The single image used, often not the product being sold, created a strong visual symbol that the consumer associated with a product—an essential key to successful advertising.
Cappiello frequently portrayed his subject as devilish or charmingly animated, an outgrowth of his earlier career as a cartoonist.
Born Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron in the Ukraine, Cassandre studied at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. He supported himself by working at a printing firm, an experience that thoroughly versed him in the potentials of commercial lithography. In 1922 he synthesized influences of Cubism and the Purists with air-brushed surfaces and majestic streamlined shapes. His work perfectly matched the image of a sophisticated life style in the 1920's and 30's.
Cassandre spent two years in the US creating illustrations for major clients, Harper's Bazaar, Container Corporation of American and N. W. Ayer Advertising.
His lettering inspired several fonts, Bifur, Acier, Acier Noir, Peignot (above),Toiraine (with Charles Peignot) and Cassandre.
20. The Air Brushers
In 1876 F. E. Stanley invented the air brush solely for the purpose of photographic retouching. (Link to the history of air brushes). In 1917 Man Ray created a series of air-brushed paintings, Aerographs, but discontinued them as he felt they looked too much like photography. In the poster world, this was an asset for artists including Cassandre, Joseph Binder and Jean Carlu.
Joseph Binder (1972–1968) trained as a lithographer at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts. He established a studio, Vienna Graphics, where he designed numerous posters influenced by De Stijl and the Cubists. In 1933 he came to the USA, first as a teacher, and resumed his poster career and garnered international awards. His 1939 World's Fair poster (above) was a masterpiece of airbrushed confidence in technology and modernism. In 1944 he became an American citizen and designed for two more decades before leaving design behind for painting
PS Using a real airbrush is much more satisfying than the Photoshop version, try one sometime.
Carlu, also influenced by the Cubists, believed in using the least number of elements to convey a strong message. He pre-tested his posters speed of comprehension, assuring their efficacy in public.
In 1940 while organizing the exhibition, "France at War" at the New York World's Fair, the Germans occupied Paris. Carlu remained in the US, a period in which he designed one of his most famous posters (below). Carlu also designed work for Container Corporation of America and Pan American Airways. Returning to France in 1953, he continued his work for companies such as Air France and Firestone France.
18. Stenberg Brothers — 1928
In Russia, beginning in 1919, the fine arts were rejected as part of a change in political ideology. In the new Communist society art was put to work in the service of the state. Two artistic mediums, movies and posters, were exploited by the state as the perfect platforms to educate the illiterate masses.
Stylistically artists became constructors, assembling images into new compositions and collages. Two brothers, Vladimir and Georgii Stenberg, created a series of dramatic posters for the Russian cinema. Mechanical enlargement was not yet available, so they developed a special hand technique to increase images to poster size. They combined contrasting scale and unusual color application to create dramatic, theatrical impact.
Recommend reading
The Museum Of Modern Art's archived web site, "Stenberg Brothers."
El Lissitzky experimented across many media— painting, architecture, photography and graphics. His early avant-garde work greatly influenced European designers but his later career was spent producing propaganda for the Stalinist regime.
His poster, shown above, was designed for the Russian Exhibition in Zürich in 1929. The freakish double head has a purpose, to emphasize the egalitarian status of women and men in the new Communist society. His photomontage style featured startling juxtapositions of real objects with naturalistic and abstract forms.
Read much more about Lissitzky, one of the greatest influences in Modern design, in the 20th Century section on this site or on the Getty Museum site.
20. Photomontage
Various methods can be used to combine two or more photographs into a singe image —several negatives (combination printing) or multiple exposures. The term photomontage came from the German Dada at the end of WWI, most notably from the work of German expatriate, John Heartfield, (1891-1968). Heartfield cut and pasted together parts of different photographs to recreate a new composition, often satirizing Hitler and the Nazi Party. The text was often quotes from leading Nazis, such as , Heartfield's "Millions Stand Behind Me" (above) which shows what is really meant by Hitler's millions.
In 1931 his work was exhibited in Berlin, along with 45 other artists, as part of the first public exhibition of photomontage. With so many artists working in photo manipulation it was inevitable that it would cross over into commercial work. See additional images on The Getty Museum web site and check your library for a copy of David Evan's John Heartfield.
Known more for her metal work, Marianne Brandt (1893–1983), privately worked on photomontage and avant-garde collage compositions at the Bauhaus. Her Tempo, Tempo Progress, Culture, 1927, creates "An image of a confident engineer, presiding over an enormous machine that radiates rings of dynamic text, it vibrates with the optimistic spirit of the Bauhaus...They were not known until the ‘70s, after World War II, when a renewed interest in Bauhaus practice led art historian Eckhard Neumann to encourage Brandt, who had returned to her hometown in East Germany after the war, to send some of the early experiments west. All but two of the works here were, as far as we know, not meant for public display. And of those, Tempo-Tempo was a design for a magazine cover that was never used.” Source, Ben Davis, Artnet Magazine, 2006.
22. Surrealism and Selling
Herbert Matter (1907-1984) studied under Fernand Léger at the Académie Moderne in Paris in the late 1920s. Influenced by the photographs and collages of Man Ray and EL Lissitzky, Matter experimented with expressive design using his Rollei camera.
He was hired as photographer and designer for the Deberny and Peignot typefoundry, assisting poster designer Cassandre.(#19)
Upon his return to Switzerland Matter designed a series of travel posters using his signature photomontage technique. The poster above, a combination of three different photographs, was printed by gravure, a high quality process that results in dense ink coverage and rich color.
At age 32 Matter moved to the US and soon produced work for the likes of MOMA, Condé Nast, the Guggenheim Museum, Knoll Furniture and the New Haven Railroad. A film The Visual Language of Herbert Matter is making the rounds to design schools and conferences ...check the viewing schedule here.
23. Lester Beall (1903-1969)
Lester Beall graduated from the University of Chicago with a PHD in Art History but established a career a designer. He moved east where he established a design office in New York City. Obviously influenced by the European avant garde, Beall synthesized their design explorations into plausible solutions for corporations and publications.
Beall is most known for his series of posters, produced between 1937 and 1941, for the US Government's Rural Electrification Program. At that time many parts of the US were still without electricity and the government wanted to encourage communities to get on the grid. In addition to improving the quality of life, additional electrical customers would translate into expanding markets for manufacturer's products and stimulate economic growth.
There is a very pretty web site dedicated to Lester Beall, LesterBeall.com — but be forewarned that the very difficult-to-control scrolling text will annoy you in no time flat. Enjoy the images.
24. The Swiss International Style
During both world wars avant-garde artists fled European countries for neutral Switzerland, concentrating in the cities of Basel and Zürich. Influences from Constructivism, De Stijl and the Bauhaus were incorporated into a design style that exemplified Swiss neutrality and rationality. It was the graphic equivalent of Modernism, the predominate style of world architecture and design from the 1950's through the 1970's. Totally devoid of emotion, or national affiliation, this international style was perfectly suited to the increasingly global post- WWII marketplace. For an excellent selection of examples see The Swiss Poster: Art of Ten Masters by Professor Bez Ocko, Hofstra University. Link here
The heavily codified Swiss style formula;
1. Asymmetrical arrangement.
2. The use of a mathematical grid to provide an orderly and unified structure
3. Sans serif typefaces (especially Helvetica, introduced in 1961) in a flush left and ragged right format.
4. Black and white photography in place of drawn illustration.
The overall intent was simple and rational, tightly structured, serious, clear, objective and harmonious.
During the 1980's some young Swiss designers felt the need to move on from the International Style. Probably the most well-know provocateur for new Swiss style was Wolfgang Weingart (b. 1941). Already a trained typesetter before entering the Basel School of Design, the epicenter of Swiss International Style, Weingart was a somewhat precocious student. Training under Armin Hoffmann, Weingart showed so much promise that he was hired back to teach typography after his graduation.
Weingart experimented with looser organization, violating the strict grid with a more intuitive placement of objects and painterly treatment of surfaces. He overlapped images, used enlarged half-tone patterns and graphic visual elements. Some in the design community took umbrage to his approach, dubbed New Wave, but rather than a rejection of the Swiss style, Weingart saw his work as the next logical progression. Read his thoughts in his My Way to Typography.
Design partners Siegfried Odermatt and Rosemary Tissi were part of this new generation called the New Wave.
Their beautiful book, Odermatt and Tissi, describes their own work or see them in a video interview in 2009.
24. Psychedelic Posters
With strong influences from Art Nouveau and the Vienna Secessionists, (such as shown below) Wes Wilson] (b. 1937), pioneered the psychedelic rock poster genre. Intended for an audience "that was tuned in to the psychedelic experience." He further experimented with pulsating pictures and undulating letters. He's still around doing his thing at this link.
Richard Harlfinger, Austria, 1913
25. NY Style, Push Pin Studios
in 1954 three graduates of The Cooper Union, Milton Glaser, (b.1929), Seymour Chwast (b. 1931) and Ed Sorel (b.1929) joined together to form Push Pin Studios in New York City. All three were gifted illustrators but soon added graphic design to their roster of skills. The Push Pin look, nothing like the Swiss Style, often remixed historical styles, especially art nouveau, Victorian typography and wood type. Glaser's famous Dylan poster (above) is a typical stylistic hybrid, “a classical Persian miniature painting and 20th century collage portrait by Marcel Duchamp” (Source: Eskilson, p. 346.) Humor and wit, as well as strong political statements against racial issues and the Vietnam War, were part of the Push Pin work.
Numeous typefaces were harvested from Push Pin posters and illustrations. Now working separately, the Push Pin Studios continue under Mr. Chwast, Mr. Sorel continues to produce award winning illustrations while Mr. Glaser, a frequent speaker and design personality, practices design in his own studio.
26. Nancy Skolos + Tom Wedell
Both graduates of Cranbrook Academy of Art, Nancy Skolos also has an MFA from the Yale graphic design program.
The following
information about them appears on their beautiful website.
“Husband and wife, the two work to diminish the boundaries between graphic design and photography—creating collaged three-dimensional images influenced by cubism, technology and architecture. With a home/studio halfway between Boston and Providence they balance their commitments to professional practice and teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design. The studio’s work has received numerous awards and has been widely published and exhibited. Skolos/Wedell’s posters are included in the graphic design collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem and the Museum für Gestaltung, Zurich, Switzerland. Skolos is an elected member of the Allliance Graphique Internationale and plays a mean clarinet.
Suggested Reading: Their book, Type, Image, Message.
27. Swiss Posters Today
In the late 1990’s, Swiss artist Ralph Schraivogel designed posters utilizing photographic and collage techniques to create intense texture and inseparable interplay between image and typography. Some bits of his book can be previewed on Google books
Melchior Imboden's (b. 1956) work involves intense color vibration and his deep interest and involvement in photography. His web site with examples of his work.
“This is the way to peace, the enemy wishes it” was a call to buy German war bonds.
28. WWI Recruiting Soldiers
At the start of WWI in 1914 there was no draft for the British Army but as newly mechanized war equipment and gas warfare caused huge casualties, it was increasingly difficult to get men to enlist. Posters were used to inspire, or shame, men into joining up.
(above) After the sinking of the ship Lusitania, a report circulated about the discovery of a deceased English mother clutching her child, both innocent victims of the attack. The subsequent poster design needed no explanation to connect between the image and the word ENLIST.
(Above Top) Alfred Leete's 1914 image of England's Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, is craftily designed to look as if it is pointing at you from any vantage point. (Above bottom) James Montgomery Flagg's 1916 magazine cover of Uncle Sam was circulated on 4 million posters in 1917.
There were dramatic changes in the perception of women's war roles between WWI and WWII. Posters from WWI urge women to stay home and conserve food for the troops or grow victory gardens. They were depicted as weak and too feminine to "Join the Navy." By WW2 women were portrayed by J. Howard Miller's Rosie the Riveter—strong and capable.
29. The German Call to Arms
The poster above and below were designed by Lucien Bernhard, (also entry #15) originator of the Sachplakat poster. His style made a dramatic shift from a clean and modern approach back to a conservative German Gothic motif using both traditional lettering style and images of the motherland. War posters tend to reflect traditional national values that resonate across age and aesthetic differences.
30. Polish Political Posters
Poland has a long tradition of posters from WW2 until 1990.
Freedom on the Fence, a documentary project by Andrea Marks, records Polish posters and their significance to the social, political and cultural life of Poland. “Examining the period from WWII through the fall of Communism, Freedom on the Fence captures the paradox of how this unique art form flourished within a Communist regime. The documentary contains interviews with older and younger generations of poster artists, examples of past and current poster work, historic and current film footage of where and how the poster is viewed, and commentaries from both American and Polish scholars and artists on the significance of the Polish poster as a cultural icon.” Quote from the Freedom on the Fence web site.
31. Social Cause Poster
Posters have been used to support the causes or protests of disenfranchised women, Blacks, Latinos, Gays, Native Americans, Environmental Activists and countless other groups. They were especially abundant in the 1960's and 70's when artists would use silkscreens to produce strong color fields and bold type at low cost. An instructive YouTube video on screen printing explains the process, including peanut breaks.
The Silence = Death poster
1986, Offset lithography
Act up AIDS activists
See also, The Art of Protest
Culture and Activism from the Civil Rights Movement to the Streets of Seattle)
32. The Future of Posters?
Unfortunately there seems no end to the need for messages to counter war, injustice or abuse in the world. However with competition from the internet, television, and lack or available public space, can the poster stay relevant in the 21st century? With wall space disappearing and screen viewing the major media choice, when poster no longer means defines a printed piece but rather a person who posts messages, what next?
If you want to see a good international on line site for the current poster scene visit Rene Wanner's Poster Page.
33. Political Posters Today
Shepard Fairey's Obama poster for the 2008 presidential campaign was derived from a photograph taken by Mannie Garcia, a freelance photographer. A year later Fairey admitted that he had fabricated and destroyed evidence of the actual source.
“Photographer Mannie Garcia contended that he retained copyright to the photo according to his AP contract. He said that he was "so proud of the photograph and that Fairey did what he did artistically with it, and the effect it’s had," but that he did not "condone people taking things, just because they can, off the Internet.” Yes I agree, it is not fair when people appropriate the structure and content of this site and claim it as their own work either.
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