Picture Posters: A Short History of the Illustrated Placard with Many Reproductions of the Most Artistic Examples in all Countries — John Shaqi
Picture Posters: A Short History of the Illustrated Placard with Many Reproductions of the Most Artistic Examples in all CountriesHiatt, Charles
History
Picture Posters: A Short History of the Illustrated Placard with Many Reproductions of the Most Artistic Examples in all Countries
Hiatt, Charles
Posters -- History
of them is worthy of the closest attention. The design for Marguerite
Dufay is a piece of triumphant vulgarity. The subject is a very simple
one; it is merely a woman of almost impossible fatness who performs at
various Parisian music-halls on the trombone. Having stated this, one
has, however, given no idea of the extraordinary qualities of this bill.
It is safe to say that, once seen, it will never be forgotten; it should
have made the fortune of the performer whom it advertises. The mirth
of the thing is victorious and infectious; one seems almost to hear the
coarse laugh; the ample body in the green dress seems to move as one
stares at it. In line, in movement, this poster is, from a certain point
of view, a veritable masterpiece. An advertisement which is, it seems
to me, altogether more worthy of Anquetin's great talent is one designed
for "Le Rire," a recently issued journal. It is an extremely fine
lithograph in a single printing, and, as at present it can be procured
for a few shillings, it should be in the possession, not only of those
who care for posters as such, but also of all who are amateurs of the
beautiful art of lithography. In the foreground is the figure of a huge
man in mediaeval costume, which, while touched with the grotesque, is
splendidly flamboyant At his side he carries a large portfolio, adorned
with a grinning mask, while his hands, which are admirably drawn, point
towards a crowd of grinning pigmies beneath him. Every one of the crowd
is extremely expressive, and the effect of the whole production is
enhanced by very excellent lettering. It would be difficult to meet
with two _affiches_ more interesting than the "Marguerite Dufay" and
"Le Rire," and they place Anquetin amongst the masters of the art of the
poster.
If Anquetin is an artist of marked originality, so, in a manner totally
different, is Pierre Bonnard. Save in the small number of his posters,
he resembles Anquetin in hardly anything; on the other hand, his work
has points of similarity with the later work of Lautrec. The posters of
both these artists are decorative in a curious and somewhat similar sort
of way, decorative in spite of their marked grotesqueness. Between the
"Confetti" of Lautrec and the "Revue Blanche" of Bonnard there is a
distinct decorative affinity. As both of them are dated the same year,
1894, it is needless to suggest that either of these intensely personal
artists has derived anything from the other; there is, indeed, no
evidence whatsoever of imitation, or even influence. Of the two
best-known posters of Bonnard, the "France Champagne" is the earlier
in point of time, having been published in 1891. It is a lithograph
in three colours, and represents an extraordinarily fantastic, and
extremely _decolletee_ girl, who holds in one hand a
[Illustration: 0136]
[Illustration: 0138]
[Illustration: 0140]
[Illustration: 0142]
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