Chéret

Today, in a world dominated by advertising methods, posters are so common to us that it rarely comes to mind that they were at one time non-existent and hard to come by.  Although invented by Alois Senefelder, it was Jules Chéret who perfected the lithography technique of printing posters in the 1800s thus giving him the title “father of the poster”.  This technique allowed for mass produce of the poster, which had been handmade since the 1600s.

Not only did he refine lithography, he designed posters that reshaped the art in France for years to come.  Other artists followed in his footsteps designing posters that covered the buildings of France, a far cry from previous years when mass printing of posters was impossible.  It was at this point that a tax was invented for poster.  No posters were allowed to be posted publicly without a stamp stating that the fee was paid and even then, it had to be posted in designated areas throughout the city.  However, Chéret’s posters were so popular that people would steal them off of buildings shortly after they were posted.

Before the end of the decade, Chéret had designed over 1000 posters, had become the topic of a book written about his endless success and creativity, and had revolutionized the world of posters.  Even today we see his techniques being used in advertisements, a picture tells the story while few words are added for explanation.  Whatever the design or the printing technique, Jules Chéret will live on as the “father of the poster”.

(A BRIEF) HISTORY OF POSTERS

http://www.francofolie.com/posterHistory.htm