The World in Prints: The History of Advertising Posters from the Late 19th Century to the 1940s
This imposing coffee table book contains some of the most beautiful and iconic posters created during La Belle Époque era, to the golden age of the 1920s, through to the Cubist and Expressionist-infused 1930s and ‘40s.
Thanks to the invention of modern lithography, from 1880 on, the poster became a dominant form of advertising in Europe, Great Britain, and the United States. Although originally meant to be ephemeral, thanks to their timeless beauty, these works have now become iconic images encapsulating their age.
Within its covers, lie the most beautiful and eye-catching of those vintage posters, waiting to be discovered. From Toulouse-Lautrec’s and Alphonse Mucha’s exquisitely embellished paintings of pretty girls; daring and elaborate images with commercial and promotional messaging that arose at the start of the twentieth century, to early avant-garde designs that reflected an unsettled, turbulent world of the 1920s and ‘30s, including ads for cinemas and sporting events; through to the streamlined, more graphic designs that emerged following World War Two, and the explosion of phenomenally creative surrealist, airbrushed images created during a period of social upheaval in the late 30s and early 40s that were geared to a more sophisticated and discriminating public.