Omaha daily bee., 1898-11-13
ART IN MODERN POSTERS
Origin and Growth Of the Movement at Home
and Abroad.
S THE CRAZE A PASSING ONE ?
How the Art Poster Got It's Start to
Fame and POpularity-SOme
= Specimens and
Their ,

The origin and development Of art in
modern posters and brief descriptive re-
views Of the more notable specimens form
the groundwork of an instructive sketch
by Virginia Dodge in a recent issue Of the
Cedar Rapids Qa.) Republican. Miss Dodge
writes as follows:
To Paris Is due the modern artistic poster
movement; as early as 1886 we find so dis
tinguished an artist as the French Lalance
producing a poster. but it is at the present
time under Jules Cheret, easily the leader
in poster designs, that the poster has be-
come an established fact and one so orig
NAL, daring and brilliant that it cannot be
ignored.
OF Jules Cheret Picture Posters says: "It
may be that men OF rarer or more fas-
chatting talent have devoted themselves to
the poster; but none can compare with
Cheret in the magnitude and curiosity Of
his achievement; many have produced
charming wall pictures; nobody, save Cheret,
has made an emphatic mark on the aspect
Of a metropolis. Paris without its Cheret
would be Paris without one of its most pro-
bounced characteristics; Paris, moreover,
With its gaiety Of aspect materially dimin-
ished. The great masses Of variegated color
formed by Cheret's posters greet one JOY
ously as one passes every boarding, smile
at one from the walls of every cafe, arrest
one before the windows Of every kick.
Blazing reds, hard blues, glowing yellows,
uncompromising greens, are flung together,
apparently haphazard, but in reality after
the incest calculations, with the result that
the great pictures, when on the boardings,
insist positively on recognition"
Another Frenchman Of poster fame is Eu-
rene Grasset; his most notable production
s the famous Sun Of Austerlitz' with Its
'Paderewski horse as it has been called;
his represents Napoleon on a white horse
standing on the verge of a precipice, with
he setting sun shining on the face of the
emperor. The idea of the poster is that
Napoleon has led his army victorious to the
ends of the earth and there are no more
lands to conquer. A writer in the New York
Tribune says, Little boys begged their
father to take them to the Napoleon cir
us and that Charles Dudley Warner,
spending election day in Brooklyn, asked
What office Napoleon was running for In
that city. Grasset has other Napoleon pos
tiers; in all his work Is seen a passion for
decoration, a sense of beauty and a daring
in color effect which is marvelously sue
cessful. He is a paragon of versatility, and
has designed everything from book covers
o stained glass, and from piano cases TO
pickle jars"
Most notable among other French posters
Is that of Steinlein's famous production,
.Lait pur Sterilise" (pure sterilized milky,
| red gowned child Is drinking milk from
a. BOWL and watched by three envlous tab
bies. Unlettered copies of these bring from
So to $40. Cheret's price for a poster is
1000; and so great is the demand for pos
err collecting that firms sending out posters
or bill boards have them checked up by a
yoster inspector. and il one is missing the
Dill sticker is held responsible.
English Specimens.
In England it is hard to find names as
worthy of place in poster fame as those
found in France and America. Aubrey
Beardsley is well known on account Of his
startling originality. His most famous
posters are those designed for the Yellow
Book and the Pseudonym Library; and he
has made a special feature of theatrical
posters.
OF the Beggarstaf Brothers (Messrs. Pryde
and Simpson, Mr., George r. Sparks in a
paper on Posters; Their Origin, History
and Development" says: "Their admirable
art is not Intrusive, but nevertheless at
tracts itself TO the collectors attention.
The poster of Beckett and that OF Hamlet
Is beyond all praise, simple and dignihed. /
believe their work will help considerably in
revolutionizing the English pictorial poster.
Their work is finished, striking and artistic"
or Mr.. Dudley Hardy, another English
man Of poster note. picture Posters" says,
in criticising his Gaiety Girl: There Is
something of Cheret, there is even more OF
| Jan Van Beers in the end-of-the-century
girl, elegant as she is impudent, whom Mr..
Hardy depicts with such amazing verve and
abandon. She is too light-hearted. too ire
| sponsible. to be the daughter Of this land OF
gray and rainy skies; she takes nothing seri-
ously. save perchance a detail OF her cos
tune" His color and design are excellent
and he is especially careful in lettering.
Among American poster artists Edward
Penfeld has earned the right to a first place
by his ready wit, originality OF design and
good color work. His posters are always
pleasing, perhaps from their repose and quiet
dignity, thus placing him In strong contrast
with the French class or the English Hardy.
He, too, has the distinction OF being the
most prolific OF the American artists; a