When you think of design for events one of the first things you might think of would be an advertisement or event poster. They’re as common as beans now, and even the smallest underground show will always have one. But do you know who we have to thank for posters as we know it in the modern tradition?
The man, the myth, the post-it legend.
Enter your boy Jules Cheret!
Born to a poor but artistic family of artisans, Jules had limited opportunities in education. At age thirteen, he took on an apprenticeship as a lithographer while and would dabble in drawing and painting until moving to England where he would work as a lithographer from 1859 to 1866. There, he found himself heavily influenced by the British tradition of poster making.
Stylistically, this was far more ornate and very Victorian in its aesthetic, completely at odds with what he’d later be known for. Over time, he would find an appeal in the frivolity and expression of Rococo work from artists like Jean-Honore Fragonard and Antoine Watteau. The carefree subjects in their paintings (known as Cherettes) would be an influence he’d become known for, with his female figures depicted as modest but free-spirited. This was wildly different from most typical portrayals of women at the time, which usually showed women as puritan or prostitute! Rude!
Interestingly, these depictions of women as elegant and carefree would help many women feel more comfortable breaking social taboos of time time, normalizing things like wearing low cut bodices and smoking in public. Pundits would call him “the Father of Women’s Liberation” for influencing the social climate through his art in this way, with one writer stating: “It is difficult to conceive of Paris without its ‘Cheréts’!
An advertisement for the Pan journal of satire, one of the many advertising commissions he would take on early in his career.
At the time, he was an unusual figure because most lithographers would commission an artist to create the art for their prints. Jules was both the printmaker AND the artist, something that was extremely rare at the time, allowing him a degree of freedom with the execution of his works that most other printmakers couldn’t fathom matching. His intricate hand lettering and vibrant colour palettes in concert with expressive central figures would become a trademark of his, propelling his work into the spotlight in Paris, where he was in enormous demand to create advertisements for everything from soap to coca-laced digestive wine.
A beautiful example of Cherets striking colour palettes and dynamic figures.
In 1895, he would compile the Maîtres de l’Affiche collection: a large art publication of small reproductions featuring ninety-seven Parisian artists. It would display their best works. His success with this and his earlier career would catalyze the design and illustration world at the time, inspiring a new generation of artists like the famous Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Charles Gesmar, and Georges de Feure.
Citations
A beverage advertisement showcasing his contrasting colour palettes and beautiful hand-lettering.
Gombrich, E. H. (Ernst Hans), 1909-2001. The Story of Art. Oxford :Phaidon, 1978. Print.
http://www.jules-cheret.org/biography.html
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jules-Cheret
http://www.windsorfineart.com/jules-cheret/
Image Sources:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Ch%C3%A9ret#/media/File:Ch%C3%A9ret,_Jules,_Nadar,_Gallica.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cheret,_Jules_-_Pan_(pl_81).jpg
Lecture Reflection
OH MAN did I ever enjoy this one! Art Nouveau! More Arts & Crafts! All my favourites! I’ve got so many sources to check later for art inspiration from today, and found several important artists and designers I’d never heard of before. The Four was an awesome treat, and some of the later architecture we saw throughout the presentation was wild, I’d never seen some of these Art Nouveau buildings (Le Train Blue was gorgeous, and the skull building was absolutely wild). I’m actually pretty excited to go over these slides again for reference later, not just for studying!
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