“L’Affichomania“

Wednesday
This morning we drove downtown to the Taft Museum, to see their exhibition L’Affichomania: The Passion for French Posters. Designed to stop people in their tracks with bold colors and seductive imagery, French advertising posters of the turn of the 20th century ultimately became highly collectible works of art. L’Affichomania presents the work of five innovative artists: Jules Chéret, Eugène Grasset, Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, Alphonse Mucha, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The relaxed printing and posting guidelines granted in 1881 by the Freedom of the Press Law, along with new developments in commercial printing, resulted in tens of thousands of posters being plastered in the streets of Paris every year. Top left in my collage was by Eugène Grasset - he often used bright colours and strong black outlines to mimic the look of stained glass. The right hand ones are all by Czech artist Alphonse Mucha, who was active in Paris for a number of years before returning to his native country. Top right is one of many he did of the great stage actress Sarah Bernhardt. Center right, an advertising poster he did for Cycles Perfecta. Princess Hyacinth, at lower right was designed for Oskar Nedbal’s ballet of the same name. The lower left poster has a local connection. Ault and Wiborg inks were manufactured in Cincinnati. Founded by Levi Ault and Frank Wiborg in 1878, the Ohio Company came up with a creative way to make its business stand out among its competitors by commissioning the famous French artist Henri de Toulouse Lautrec to create this ad. By the early 1900s, Ault and Wiborg inks were selling internationally. Whilst Wiborg sold his stake in the company and moved to New York, Ault remained a prominent figure in the city. After serving on the city’s board of park commissioners for nearly 20 years, he donated approx 200 acres of land to create Ault Park, still existing and beautiful today.
When we had seen the exhibition, we enjoyed lunch at their cafe, sitting outside on their patio, enjoying the sunshine and beautiful temperatures.