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
The posters of those artists who were the pioneers of the artistic
poster movement in England are extremely rare. They worked in the days
before the English collector existed, and any copies of their designs
not actually posted, probably fell into the hands of the waste-paper
dealer. I have been unable to trace any copies of the advertisement done
by Fred Walker for "The Woman in White," but the original design has
been recently exhibited in London, and the price put upon it by its
owners is seventy guineas. Copies of Mr. Walter Crane's "Hippodrome"
bill are extremely rare, as are those designed by Professor Herkomer for
the "Magazine of Art," "Black and White," and the exhibition of his own
works. Turning to the younger men, it is interesting to note that Mr.
Dudley Hardy's "Yellow Girl" sells in Paris for twenty francs, the large
"Gaiety Girl" for half as much, and the smaller bills for the same play
for five francs. The first poster which this artist did for "St. Paul's"
is very difficult to meet with; it will doubtless be among the most
valuable of Mr. Hardy's designs. Mr. Beardsley's "Avenue" poster is
quoted neither by Mr. Bella nor M. Sagot, and it may therefore be
concluded that it is almost impossible to obtain it. The other posters
of this designer are steadily increasing in value, and are
eagerly sought for by collectors on both sides of the Channel. Mr.
Greiffenhagen's "Pall Mall" poster, which has met with much success
abroad, is worth about half a sovereign. The dainty little bill which
Mr. Wilson Steer did for the exhibition of his paintings at the Goupil
Gallery fetches about the same amount, and is rapidly becoming scarce.
It is pleasant to think that the early efforts of English artists are
welcomed by French collectors as enthusiastically as the masterpieces of
French artists by collectors in England.
The poster is obviously difficult to collect, because of its size.
Not all of us are proprietors of such an immensity as the Chicago
Exhibition. Most of us, on the other hand, could paper a room with
posters of Lautrec alone. Everybody, however, can put the smaller bills
into a portfolio, while the larger ones may be mounted as ordinary
school maps. The collecting of pictorial posters needs nothing more than
a little heroism.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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