INSPIRATION: POSTERS FROM PARIS
Toulouse-Lautrec and the Masters of Montmartre exhibition at the Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
As graphic designers, we do love a great poster. So we were excited to visit the Toulouse-Lautrec and the Masters of Montmartre exhibition on at the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath (it's heading to Belgium permanently soon).
It’s a celebration of posters as art from 1890s bohemian Paris—no longer ephemeral advertising pieces pasted up on the walls of Montmartre, but framed as artwork on gallery walls.
Beyond Toulouse-Lautrec – a name we were familiar with – the exhibition shows incredible work from Jules Chéret, AKA the ‘King of the poster’, as well as Alphonse Mucha, Adolphe Willette and Théophile Steinlen – names that we knew far less about.
It’s a visual feast for anyone interested in illustration, lettering and layout: lithography – sometimes in combination with letterpress – allowed the artists to explore expressive letterforms and typographic arrangements, creating designs ranging from brash and bold to swirling flights of fancy, and a whole lot in-between. The original large-formats and vibrant ink colours only add to the drama of the posters on show. Below are some of our favourite posters and letterforms, but if you get the chance, it’s well worth seeing them for yourself.
Lithography and letterpress, by Adolphe Willette
Theatrophone, Jules Chéret
A golden poster by Alphonse Mucha
Jules Chéret poster, with a monogram detail
