Lecture Summary: Wealthy people had starter traveling so a lot of new cultures were discovered by the western society which influenced the people’s perception of the world. Exhibitions were arranged for the average people to be able to experience things from all over the world. Europeans were fascinated with the Japanese culture which led to Japonism. The “Bible of Ornaments” was created which included a lot of new patterns adopted from different cultures. However, alongside the obsession with the unexplored, a lot of artists started looking back on the old patterns from the Renaissance and Rococo. Mass production was becoming a problem for artists – now things could be made a lot faster and cheaper. But newer things were also of poor quality. So, the arts and crafts movement was started.
Poster Design in France
For today’s designer, the Victorian era might seem like a complete nightmare. In both, interior and poster design, it was typical to add as many patterns and information as possible, leaving almost no empty places.
A lot of people say that the 1890’s was the golden age for posters. Most of the look very visually appealing. However, it took a while for the designers to get to that successful point. A French poster designer, Jules Chéret, was trying out newly explored patterns and ways of drawing in his early works. Some of it looks extremely busy and overcrowded – there is no specific point for the eye to focus on.
The Improvement
It didn’t take Cheret a long tome to figure out what works and what doesn’t. His later work is what was the beginning of the posters we create nowdays. He made a lot of changes, and in opinion, they look like they were almost done by a completely different person. They were clean, lively, and easy to understand. Here’s an example of one of my favourite works by Jules Cheret.
Jules Cheret’s Influence
Before Jules Cheret’s work, posters weren’t influencing the audience nearly as well as they were after. The world of advertising was completely changed after Cheret. Now advertisements were more simple and straight-forward than ever.
References:
https://www.antiqueposters.com/Saxoleine-Patrole-de-Surete-Maitres-13-p/1658.htm
http://www.pictorem.com/43218/Quinquina%20Dubonnet,%201895,%20Jules%20Cheret.html
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jules-Cheret
http://www.windsorfineart.com/jules-cheret/