Propaganda

With reference to the growth of mass media within the context of the late nineteenth century you are asked to discuss the implications of technology for the rise of the poster as a cultural form. You should also consider the impact the poster had on changing attitudes within society. Illustrations should be included. This question in my opinion is great for understand how today’s posters and their meaning was designed. Cheret was the innovative designer of posters in the 19th century; He used a technique called lithography which was widely used in the second half of the 19th century, and designers along with Cheret created increasingly colourful posters that decorated the walls of cities, publicising events, travelling entertainment shows, and household products. Cherets lithographic design shaped the way posters are produced and how things are advertised, which is another reason for me choosing this essay question, the advertising prospect from this design is great, and how the image is portrayed is amazing. 19th century posters changed people’s attitudes, towards society, creating the ‘new women’, me being a female myself finds it interesting how women are portrayed in such ways and I find it interesting and bold that these statements were made in the 19th century. I find the sex appeal in most of the posters of the 19th century very interesting considering the time they were made, looking at a number of key posters from Cheretand Lautrec, would help me identify what exactly is being said in the time of 1890 about the ‘new women’. The Art Nouveau stage of the 19th Century was a key movement in which I am keen to explore considering posters at that time, I would be looking at the Belle Epoque and the posters designed by Cheret again to gain knowledge of the movement in question. Posters in the first hundred year s of their existence have had a curious relationship with paintings. Besides translating the visual art movements of the twentieth century into consumer media, the nature and limitations of advertising have sometimes influenced the form and direction of painting. The first occasion when the poster had such an effect was at its coming of age in 1870. Posters before were word based, meaning you would have to read them. {draw:frame} ‘Our bustly century does not always allow enough time for reading, but it always allows time for looking, where an article demands half an hour, a drawing takes a mere minute. It requires no more than a stupid glance to uncover the message it conveys’ (1858) This quote reinforces the fact that posters needed to change and to appeal more to the common person and the working class, busy atmosphere of the changing society. {draw:frame} By the late 1950s, when Cherets career began, the lithographic poster was established as the main promotional device for the rapidly expanding French economy. In 1858 Cheret produced his first colour lithograph design _Orphee Aux Enfers_ see Figure 1 France was the pioneer of this new hybrid form of graphic art/design, hence the revolution of Cherets work. In 1866 Jules Cheret started to produce colours lithographic posters from his own press in Paris, the form of the poster as we know it dates from this time because of the coincidence of two factors certain technical printing and the presence of Cheret himself. {draw:frame} {draw:frame} His poster history making however began when he returned to Paris after being in England for 7 years. He started to produce posters from the new English machinery based on Senefelders designs. The work of Cheret was pivotal in developing a new role of colour lithography in the later part of the 19th century. Not surprisingly Cheret is said to have introduced sex in advertising or at least to have exploited the feminine image as an advertising ploy. In contrast with those previously painted by Lautrec, Cherets laughing and provocative feminine figures gave us a new conception of art as being a service to advertising. In 1889 Cheret was commissioned to design a poster to advertise the opening of the Moulin Rouge, with pretty young blondes, which became known as ‘Cherettes’ He created a vibrant image full of happiness and escapism. See figure 2 {draw:frame} People’s attitudes towards society changed with the launch of the ‘New woman’ Lautrec ‘s Moulin rouge or Divan Japonais, BonnardsFrance-Champagne, show that women during the 19th century, 1890s in particular was central to the whole culture of pleasure and to its representation in the work of painters and poster designers alike. Figure 3 is Lautrecs first poster, _Moulin Rouge – La _Goulue, See figure 3, which introduced into poster design a bold simplification of form, space and composition,learned from Japanese woodblock prints. It also introduced the flamboyant and sexual desires of a female, with the ankles showing and the leg kicking upwards. The greater emphasis on leisure could be found in Paris, where the scope and range of places of entertainment was diverse and wide ranging. Posters like these became collectables; they were shared by consuming the ideas of the female and the idea that they were very tantalising and teasing. {draw:frame} ‘Lautrec shows one of the star turns of the place as the dancer La Gouloue performs the scandalous chahut (can can) with her loose-limbed partner valentine Le Desosse (the boneless).’ http://www.sdmart.org/lautrec/Moulin.html_ (accessed 3rd December)_ In the last decade of the 19th century impressionism had been overshadowed by many manifestations of post impressionism. The fashion for all things Japanese was widespread. The movement for Art Nouveau was a powerful new force, as was symbolism. Printmaking in the 1890s reflected these diverse artistic impulses, adding to them several recent technical innovations in colour lithography , Prints were created as objects of private consumption for the homes of a new generation of people who would use posters to decorate the home, albums and portfolios of miniature versions of popular images. Several factors contributed to the popularity of the poster is the 1890s, Paris laws for posting bills had been relaxed and designs were no longer subject to complex legal regulations and time consuming approvals; advance in lithography printing allowed for brighter colours and large format advertising which helped create broader markets, this was a new development in a burgeoning capitalist economy. Paris at the time was the centre for Avant-Garde artists, many of whom needed the income and desired the recognition that the poster commissions would bring. The 1890s Paris stereotype will forever now be portrayed as the time of the can-can and cabaret. The particular context of the posters of the 1890s hasplayed a significant role in the history of graphic communications on several levels. Art Nouveau graphic designs often utilized abstract shapes, coloured lines, and flat space inspired by Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints. One of the most innovative posters of the Art nouveau movement was Henri de Toulouse-Lautrecs 1891 poster, _La Goulue._ See figure 3 Toulouse-Lautrec captured the atmosphere and activity of the dance by reducing imagery to simple, flat shapes that convey an expression of the performance and environment. ‘All in all the variety of printmaking activity in the 1890s Paris constituted what could be called a ‘Print boom’’ Deborah Wye cited in issue of_ __moma magazine 1997 _ {draw:frame} The illustrated poster was virtually unknown in Paris as an outdoor advertising medium; therefore the 1890s was a pivotal stage in forming the poster as we know it now. Basically the quotation tells us that the 1890s where a time where Posters ruled the advertising and creative world, hence here why Deborah Wye refers to this time as a ‘Print Boom’ of which I agree with as the likes of many famous poster creators designed the most innovative creations. This time in the 19th century was pivotal to reinforcing the likes of power France came to hold at that time in the century. {draw:frame} By the 1890s poster art had widespread usage in other parts of Europe, advertising everything from bicycles to bullfights, by the end if the 19th century during an era known as the Belle Epoque the standing of the poster as a serious art form was raised even further. Between 1895 and 1900, Jules Cheret created the Maitres de l’Affiche (Master of the poster) see figure 4 series that became not only a commercial success but is now seen as an important historical publication. During the 1890s posters were produced within the context of propagandist debates on artistic modernism and cultural and national identities, they were vehicles for promoting pleasure and commodities as diverse as alcohol, tobacco and lamp oil were objectified. In my opinion, the issues raised in this essay are both interesting and established as a historical and contextual debate, however, my opinions change as the release of the ‘new women’ in the later part of the century as I think the late 19th century as a time of sexuality and lust is a bit confusing and if I had a bit longer to research this subject I would definitely establish this topic in a bit more depth. Cheret In my opinion is great lithographic designer, working well with both colour and design and making history in the ‘poster world’. His posters changed the way we think of the world and established a new way of advertising on the streets. Again if I had a bit longer time length or a longer word count on this essay I would definitely carry on the discussion about the ‘new women’ aspect of the 19th century and go in to more depth about the Belle Epoque which I found very interesting. My research into this topic has been interesting, and I have come across interesting observations into the world of poster advertising in the 19th century and the role France had to play in helping control this with the likes of poster designers, Cheret and Lautrec. Bibliography John Barnicoat (1972) _Posters A concise _history Printed and bound in Spain, Artes Graficas Toledo S.A Victoria E. Bonnell (1997) Iconography of Power_ _University of California Press, Ltd London, England J. Stewart Johnson The Modern American Poster_ _The national Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. http//:www.absolteastronomy.com/topics/posters (accessed 6th December 2009) Bradford R. Collins The poster as art; Jules _Cheret and the stuggle for equality of the arts in late 19th century France _The MIT Press, pg 41 – 50 http:// www.jstore.org/stable/1511527 Deborah Wye, chief curator Paris- The 1890s_ _Published summer 1997 issue of Moma magazine Graphic design (2009) in Encyclopaedia Britannia ,Retrieved December 6th 2009 from Encyclopaedia online http//:www.Britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1032864/graphic-design {draw:frame} {draw:frame} {draw:frame}