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
|Prominent among the French designers of posters with whom I have not
previously dealt is Guillaume, an artist widely known in England by
reason of the admirable illustrations which, from time to time, appear
in our periodicals. Save Cheret and Choubrac, few artists have done so
much poster work as Guillaume, and not many have maintained so high a
level of accomplishment. Vigour, vivacity, and high spirits, rather than
beautiful design and fine colour, are the characteristic qualities of
posters by Guillaume. He is, it seems to me, seen at his best in the
admirable "Extrait de Viande Armour," which is reproduced here. In its
way, and looking to the thing to be advertised, nothing better has been
done. The gigantic "strong man," with his huge torso, colossal arms
and legs, holding a tiny teacup in his immense hands, is not easily
forgotten. The expression on the man's face is inimitable, and the
accessories, such as cannons and dumbbells, are most appropriately
chosen. The "Chapeaux l'elion" is a more complicated design,
representing a crowd of men wearing hats of every conceivable shape.
The colour of this design is very good, but its chief merit lies in the
facial expression of the different members of the crowd. It would be
impossible to conceive any single person in a hat other than the one
he is wearing. In another excellent poster we are presented with a
very _fin-de-siecle_ young lady riding astride a stork which bears her
rapidly through space. It would be hopeless to attempt anything like a
complete list of Guillaume's posters, but among the most recent are
the following, all of which deserve the attention of the collector:
"Dentifrices du Dr. Bonn," "Gigolette," "Old England," "Le Pole
Nord," "Cycles Vincent fils," "Le Vin d'Or" (in two sizes, unsigned),
"Parfumerie Diaphane; le Diaphane Sarah Bernhardt," "L'ouvre de Rabelais
par J. Gamier," and "Ducreux et Giralduc (Ambassadeurs)".
Although a Frenchman, the work of Jean de Paleologue, or "Pal," as he is
more frequently called, is perhaps better known to the Londoner than to
the Parisian. His
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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