Vintage Ad Posters Taking The Place Of Paintings As Wall Art
Vintage Ad Posters Taking The Place Of Paintings As Wall Art
Vintage advertising posters have been seen on walls where fine art used to hang.
This is quite a turn for posters churned out on newsprint to last a few colorful weeks on a wall or Paris kiosk to promote an event or product. As the first modern mass advertising medium, which had its heyday from the 1880s through the 1950s, the ones that survived are striking, with strong graphics aimed at delivering a punch to passers-by.
Outdoor wall art
“The great thing about posters is that they are accidental art,” said Nicholas Lowry, president of Swann Galleries. “They’re not made to be saved. It’s meant to be advertising, to be rained on, torn down or plastered over. That’s the beauty of it.”
“It’s beautiful graphic design and social history at the same time,” added Gail Chisholm, who runs Chisholm Gallery in New York. “Prices have gone up enough that I should have just stayed a collector.”
It’s the uncommon advertising posters from Art Nouveau (1890-1914) and Art Deco (1925-1940s) periods that have made huge leaps in worth over the last 10 years.
The highest price ever paid for a vintage poster was $250,000 designed by French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The poster sold at Poster Auction in New York in 1999.
Lautrec’s painting, “L’Abandon ou les deux amies,” sold for $8.5 million. Artists like him also produced fine lithographic prints in limited editions for the art market.
“The artistic talent expressed in his prints is the same as that expressed in his poster design work. So posters are a relative bargain,” said Louis Bixenman, director of the International Vintage Poster Fair in New York.
Collectors usually specialize in categories including Art Nouveau, with its writhing plant forms and maidens with flowing hair; and Art Deco, with stylish, geometric graphics.
We have reproductions of early 20th century posters by Leonetto Cappiello, whose work advertised Campari, Cinzano and other products. We also have reproductions of posters by Jules Cheret,. His original posters cost $8,000 to $10,000.
Movie posters are a separate class, with even higher record prices fueled by the fan base of a celebrity rather than the art design itself.
While the originals can be found -although at high prices- the reproductions are taking over more of the market for the everyday person. They love the image, the vibrant colors, the scenery the message that the posters give, they don’t care if it is an original or not!
Here is where the reproductions come in for all of us who can’t afford the “real deal” and are more interested in the art and the look then the antique value. You can call it cheap wall art or fine art posters, reproductions are making its way into more and more peoples homes as an affordable and easy way of decorating.
In our ArtCantHurtU store we have thousands of prints available that range from $5.95 for the smallest 12? x 18? to $15.97 for our biggest 23? x 35? size. That is cheap compared to a lot of other stores!
We sell reproductions of vintage Travel Posters, Sports posters, Japanese woodcuts, Religious prints, Astrology prints, Original wall art, Theatrical posters, Movie poster, Circus prints, French Art Nouveau …and so much more.
Welcome in and take a look! CLICK HERE and we will take you there!
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