Art for the Street: Art Nouveau Posters

The large-format, colorful posters familiar to us today have existed for only circa 150 years. With the invention of new printing techniques in the late 19th century, the poster soon evolved into the advertising medium par excellence. Before long, the boulevards of the metropolises were lined with posters (“Plakate” in German; “affiche” in French) – a genuine “affichomanie,” or “poster mania,” had gripped Europe and the United States.

The Frenchman Jules Chéret played a central role in the history of the poster. In the 1860s he simplified the printing technique of lithography and established a fast and inexpensive printing process. As a designer, with his colorful compositions, he laid the foundations for the modern poster, intended to have an impact from a distance. On his initiative, major artists were commissioned with poster designs, among them Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, and Eugène Grasset. The “art of the poster” had been born.

Atmospheric impressions of Parisian nightlife around the fin de siécle characterize the celebrated posters of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Actors, dancers, cabaret habitués, and prostitutes are showcased as the real stars of the Belle Époque. The planar, stylized mode of depiction, with its restricted range of colors, was a function of the new printing techniques, but was also compatible with Toulouse-Lautrec’s preference for Japanese woodcut prints.

Théophile Alexandre Steinlen was a great cat lover. In this poster, he has created a monument to the elegant feline. The legendary nightclub "Le Chat Noir" in Montmartre in Paris was the first modern cabaret: here, guests enjoyed drinks at their tables while being entertained by stage acts.

Given preference in Art Nouveau were organic forms and motifs drawn from nature. Eugène Grasset’s poster for his exhibition at the "Salon des Cent" in Paris features a personification of the Arts engaged in the attentive study of a plant called Bishopswort. The dark contour lines and expansive planes of color are reminiscent of stained-glass painting. This image inaugurated the international diffusion of the Jugendstil poster.

Devised during the late 19th century was an advertising strategy that continues to be employed today: to sell products, depictions of women are featured in images as “eyecatchers.” The commodity itself – in this instance, cigarette paper bearing the "Job" label – recedes into the background. The billowing coiffeur, arranged in decorative arabesques, and known as “macaroni curls,” was frequently adapted, and became a trademark of Art Nouveau.

This poster by Henri Privat-Livement advertises "Rajah" brand coffee. The female figure is meant to generate an association between the enjoyment of the beverage and beauty or elegance. In the typical Art Nouveau manner, Privat-Livement adapts the text to the content, the letters imitating the clouds of steam that rise from the hot coffee.

During the Victorian era, Aubrey Beardsley’s prints and illustrations – sexually charged and peopled with femmes fatales – made him an artist of scandal. He designed very few posters, but their influence was all the greater, especially on US-American artists. They are characterized by elongated figures, ornamental lines, and strong contrasts of black and white.

William Bradley employed particularly splendid posters to advertise his own art publication, entitled "Bradley: His Book", containing poems, text, and illustrations. Characteristic of Art Nouveau are motifs such as peacocks, young girls and youths, mythological beings, and vegetation.

Cycling was en vogue around 1900 – for women as well as for men. It offered women the possibility of rapid and independent transport. As potential customers, they were depicted with great elegance in advertising posters. The vegetal motifs provide biking with an additional aesthetic dimension.

During the German Empire, magazines such as "Simplicissimus" and "Jugend" revolutionized graphic art, and hence poster design as well. In Germany the "Jugendstil" (Art Nouveau) movement owed its name to the magazine "Jugend". This work by Ludwig von Zumbusch visualizes the aims of the movement: two energetic young women drag along an elderly gentleman, who emblematizes the demise of inherited values and beliefs.

In this poster by Franz von Stuck, Pallas Athena – the goddess of wisdom and the tutelary goddess of the arts – is presented with severe elegance. With his reductive, lucid style, he distances himself from the conservative advertising posters of the Wilhelminian era. The Greek divinity was a much-favored motif among avant-garde artist’s groups, among them the Munich and Vienna Secessions.

The idea of corporate identity is not entirely new: alongside advertising posters, Henry van de Velde designed packaging, brochures, and labels, for the firm "Tropon", based in Cologne-Mühlheim, all featuring the firm’s distinctive logotype. This poster advertising the dietary supplement succeeds admirably in uniting industrialized product marketing with elevated artistic demands. The ornamental forms represent the separation of egg whites from yolks.