History of Posters Part 2

http://www.designishistory.com/1850/posters/

https://www.internationalposter.com/a-brief-history-of-the-poster/

Lithography was invented in 1798, but for decades it was too slow and expensive for poster production. Most posters continued to be simple wood or metal engravings with little colour or design. This changed around 1880 with Cheret's "3 stone lithographic process," a breakthrough which allowed artists to achieve every colour in the rainbow with as little as three stones -red, yellow and blue.

Cheret's process still demanded superb artistry and remarkable craftsmanship. The result was a remarkable intensity of colour and texture. The ability to combine word and image in such an attractive and economical format finally allowed the lithographic poster to usher in the modern age of advertising.

Posters influenced the development of typography because they were meant to be read from a distance and required larger type to be produced, usually from wood rather than metal. The poster quickly spread around the world and became a staple of the graphic design trade. Many artists as well, such as Henry Toulouse-Latrec and Henry van de Velde, created posters. In 1891, Toulouse-Latrec's extraordinary first poster, Moulin Rouge, elevated the status of the poster to fine art and touched off a poster craze. During the 1890s, referred to as the Belle Epoque in France, poster exhibitions, magazines and dealers proliferated.

In each country, the poster was used to celebrate the society's unique cultural institutions. In France, the café and cabaret; in Italy, opera and fashion; in Spain, bullfighting and festivals; in Germany, trade fairs and magazines, in Britain and America, literary journals, bicycles, and the circus.

Despite cross-pollination, distinctive national styles also became apparent - Dutch posters were marked by restraint and orderliness; Italian posters by their drama and grand scale; German posters for their directness and medieval influence.