In Paris during the late 19th century, a period often called the Belle Époque or the “Beautiful Era”, posters were being changed from text, heavy advertising to beautiful displays of information with color and art. During this era, artists relied on what was beautiful to the eye to capture the reader. Since then, the path of posters has never been the same.
Before the 1860s, a poster was mostly a simple, black-and-white sheet of text. Creating full-color imagery was complicated and expensive. The game changed with a printing innovation called color lithography. A French artist and printer named Jules Chéret simplified the process and found a way to create a spectrum of colors using as few as three stones printed on top of each other. He often featured elegant female figures, famously known as the “Chérettes”. Chéret created over 1,000 posters, turning the streets of Paris into a massive art gallery. This was revolutionary because it made the mass production of large, vibrant, artistic posters fast and affordable. For the first time, businesses could afford to put eye-catching images in front of the public.
The poster quickly evolved from a marketing tool into an art form. Two major artists helped establish the poster’s place in history. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec captured the nightlife of Montmartre, creating iconic posters for venues like the Moulin Rouge. His posters were bold, dramatic, and intensely personalized, creating the first celebrity endorsements by immortalizing performers. His art was so impactful that collectors would bribe billboard hangers to peel the posters off the walls. Alphonse Mucha, a Czech painter, championed the ornate, flowing style of Art Nouveau. His posters, advertising everything from theatre to cigarette papers, were instantly recognizable for their detailed, stylized women surrounded by intricate, organic patterns. Mucha turned a simple advertisement into a piece of decorative beauty.
These artists proved that high-quality, distinctive design is not just a cost but also an investment in brand equity. After the posters display, the posters were collected, preserved, and displayed in museums. Today, while the medium has changed from stone lithography to digital pixels, the lesson remains the same: Stand out with exceptional design, and you will not just sell a product but also create a conversation and a piece of cultural history.
Come back next week as we learn about how posters evolved from solely advertising to calling for social change!