Vintage Lithograph poster collecting became fashionable at the turn of the 19th Century. Hand–printed lithograph posters were a vibrant and expressive form of advertising meant to attract the throngs of everyday consumers in cities both large and small. These beautiful original posters had to be visually striking and immediately convey their message in order to entice the viewer. Lithographic art posters were typically placed at street (eye) level, and often these original posters were positioned in prominent areas such as art gallery windows, railway stations, street kiosks, or on the sides of buildings where the posters could be easily seen.
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As vintage art poster collecting grew more popular, these artworks were burglarized from billboards at an alarming rate, and it became increasingly difficult for advertisers to keep their advertisement posters on the streets. As a solution to the problem, poster lithography workshops increased production and began selling the original art posters to the public.
These collectible posters were created in lithography print workshops (also known as ateliers) that specialized in the print medium of Lithography. The Atelier Mourlot, founded in 1852, was a french lithography print studio located in Paris that produced a number of hand–made lithographs and posters. Originally a printer of fine wallpaper, the Atelier Mourlot became involved in the printing of illustrated art books as well as high quality original lithographs and posters for the French National Museums and major foreign institutions. By 1937 the Mourlot studio had established a reputation as the largest print workshop of lithograph prints and posters by master artists.
The Atelier Mourlot was generationally operated by the sons of founder Francois Mourlot. The studio took a modern artistic turn when Fernand Mourlot invited the major master artists of the 20th Century into the lithography studios to learn the art medium of lithography. The Mourlot played host to many major 20th century master artists including: Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Chagall, Leger,Dubuffet,, Le Corbusier, Calder, Kelly, Rauschenberg, Matta, Bacon,Ernst,Lichtenstein, and many more.
Mourlot encouraged these artists to work directly on the lithography stones or plates to create original lithograph prints & posters which would then be printed in limited editions. The results of this artistic print collaboration between master artists and Mourlot were technically inventive, visually captivating and opened a unique realm of creative expression known as Fine Art Lithography. Mourlot was proud of these lithographic poster prints which bore the Mourlot family name and they became known worldwide for their originality, beauty and craftsmanship.
Vintage French posters by master artists of the 20th Century, have come to be recognized as a highly collectible form of fine art, whether for pleasure or for investment purposes. World–renowned museums exhibit vintage posters and many have permanent collections of vintage lithograph prints & posters. Magnificent examples of such vintage poster collections can be found at theLouvre, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
