Posters, Various Selection Vintage, Advertising, Performing Arts, Food, 19th and 20th Centuries

Georges Léonnec (1881-1940), Maurice Neumont (1868-1930), Marcel Vertès (1895-1961), Bradlay, Reimann and others (after)
Antique and Vintage Posters
French, British, Swedish and Swiss: 19th and 20th Century
Color lithograph posters
Sizes vary, as shown above, right
$1,000 and above

The rise of poster art coincides with the advent of three-stone chromolithography in the 1860s. Invented by French printer Jules Cheret, this process enabled a wide range of colors to be produced relatively inexpensively from overprinting three colors of ink. Cheret also influenced poster art by incorporating broad areas of rich, flat color inspired by Japanese prints. Although poster advertising arose in Paris, it soon spread to other cities and countries, where distinctive regional styles arose. Poster art also evolved with the times, influenced by a succession of artistic movements: Art Nouveau, Art Deco, De Stijl, Futurism, Bauhaus and Constructivism. With the rise of photography and broadcast media after World War II, the illustrated poster has gradually been relegated to a relatively minor role in advertising art, except in mass transit venues.

We show a selection of posters here. Other posters are shown on our website, including pictorial cartographic posters.