20th Century art posters were a vibrant and expressive form of advertising meant to attract the throngs of everyday consumers in cities both large and small. They had to be visually striking and immediately convey their message in order to entice the viewer into action. Typically placed at street (eye) level these posters were positioned in prominent areas such as gallery windows, railway stations, street kiosks, or on the sides of buildings where interaction with the viewer was the most widespread.
Lithography, created in 1789, was revolutionized by the Mourlot Family of lithographers who founded a Parisian print workshop in 1852 where they initially created wallpaper. The print shop, or atelier, was generationally operated by the sons of founder Francois Mourlot and took a modern artistic turn in the mid 20th century when Fernand Mourlot invited the artists of the time to learn the technique of lithography. Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Joan Miro, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, Fernand Leger and many other masters of Modern Art were encouraged to work directly on the lithographic stones or plates to create original artworks which would then be printed, under the direction of masters printers, in small editions. The results of this artistic collaboration between artist and printer were technically inventive, visually captivating and, for both artist & printer, opened a unique realm of creative expression known as Fine Art lithography.
It was for a 1930 art exhibition that Fernand Mourlot created the first art poster to stand on its own as a singular work of art for a Eugene Delacroix exhibition. Mourlot would go on to produce large scale exhibition posters for most of the great 20th Century artists featuring bold colors and dynamic compositions carefully translated onto the lithographic plates by the master printer and under the supervision & approval of the artist. He was proud of these modern posters which bore his family name and they became known worldwide for their originality, beauty and craftsmanship.
Denis Bloch Fine Art is pleased to offer a wide selection of original lithographic posters from the Masters of 19th and 20th Century Art. Please contact the gallery regarding our vintage posters as our website shows only a portion of the inventory available.
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