A Bit of Poster History

Everyone loves a poster. Most places sell them nowadays. From your favourite football team to your recent movie releases and even that fit one from the boyband you like. It can be a simple yet heavily edited photograph to a complex digital design. But you don’t see hand painted posters out on the street anymore. Sure, some artists still paint their posters like Drew Struzan but in the everchanging technological environment, the processes used to create said posters are changed too.

French painter, Jules Cheret had a wonderful career in the late 1800’s painting beautiful posters and artwork for books, live performances and events. “By the end of his career, Chéret had designed over one thousand posters for music halls, theatres, performers, and products including beverages, medicines, and lamp oil.” (Britannica, N.D). The design was stylistic of the era and portrayed the mood of the Moulin Rouge. It features a bold style of text in a colour that leaps from the background, and enticing figures of women. The somewhat abstract style of the windmill in the background and characters around it shows us the way posters were evolving into works of art, rather than just serving to tell us information.

 (Cheret, 1889)

Much time passed and many styles were developed over the years. Suddenly, the world was hit with another war on an unimaginable scale. Along with it, came an artist called Jean Carlu. His flair for art and graphic design in early years, caught the attention of American advertisers during the second world war as “He designed advertising art for several American companies” (Logemann, 2012). He used contrasting colours to attract attention and used a basic colour palette. The image was recognisable and clear on a white background, helping it to be visible. This fully took hold of the idea that posters were more than just information for the masses. It could be iconic and realised as a work of art. It was influenced by the themes of the time where women were being encouraged to take part at home whilst many men served away.

 (Carlu, 1942)

Fast forward to present day, and many of these styles are still adapted and modernized. Artist still paint but digitally, and many artistic practices are still used to this day. I had already previously mentioned Drew Struzan who famously painted posters for the Star Wars franchise, Harry Potter and Indiana Jones to name a few.

(Struzan, 2001)

We also made way for the use of computers to make posters. Digitally composed with photographs and other digital process, we get a lot of variety.

(Unknown, 2016)

This recent addition includes a lot of old methods used in new ways. We see the bold use of colour and muted characters to emphasize the title. This with the use of negative space or a while background, helps set the image apart from others and makes I easy to read. We can tell the characters were photographs and the rest was digitally compiled and edited to create this poster. Together, it creates a striking and bold image.

Many poster artists in the past paved the way for the posters of today. Keeping the old practices with a new twist helps opens many doors into what can be created. The artist’s tools are far greater than before and its open to more people. To inspire and advertise to the masses in the present day and in the future.

Bibliography

Britannica, T. E. o. E., N.D. Jules Chéret. [Online]
Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jules-Cheret
[Accessed 08 11 2016].

Carlu, J., 1942. Production. [Art] (U.S. Government).

Cheret, J., 1889. Bal du Moulin Rouge. [Art] (Unknown).

Logemann, J., 2012. Jean Carlu (1900-1997). [Online]
Available at: http://www.transatlanticperspectives.org/entry.php?rec=8
[Accessed 08 11 2016].

Struzan, D., 2001. Harry Potter. [Art] (Unknown).