|That the picture poster was an incident of the ancient civilizations of
China and Japan; goes without saying. The scope, however, of this book
does not embrace the Far East; the illustrated placard in the Orient
would, indeed, be a subject in itself. In the matter of applied art it
is difficult to conceive anything which the Chinese and the Japanese
have not attempted. They seem, from the earliest days, to have been
consumed with a passion for decoration; nothing which by any chance
admitted of ornament was left undecorated. It behoves the societies
which are formed for the purpose of illustrating the artistic
antiquities of these wonderful countries to concern themselves with the
dawn and history of the pictorial poster in the East. Certain it is
that the illustrated advertisement abounded, as it abounds today, in the
cities of both the nations now being discussed. It is, indeed, found
in the less advanced civilization of Burma, and of the various
principalities which form our Indian Empire. To pass from Asia to
Spain is to travel a long way. In Spain, at the present moment, the
illustrated placard is receiving no small attention at the hands of
artists who, however discouraged and ill-paid, are determined to do all
that in them lies to raise the country which produced Murillo to the
position she once held among art-producing nations. A recent writer in
the "Sketch" grows enthusiastic over the Spanish _affiche_. "Spanish
posters," he tells us, "are a delight. Well drawn, vividly but
truly coloured, and perfectly printed, they shine down from walls and
hoardings, attracting all passers-by. They depict the glories of coming
fairs and bull-fights, and are couched in terms calculated to draw
money from a stone. The announcement that a famous matador will kill, or
assist to kill, _Seis Escogidos Toros_, throws the Spanish reader into
a state of frenzy. Not infrequently some incident is depicted with frank
realism. A bull standing over a dead horse gives an opportunity to
the artist to draw the unfortunate horse disembowelled and lying
on blood-stained sand, while the bull's hide shows the marks of
the lance-thrusts, and his horns are likewise stained with blood.
Colour-printing is so good in these regions of perpetual sunlight that
nearly every detail of a matador's costume can be given. The poster
artists are splendid when they depict
[Illustration: 0352]
[Illustration: 0358]
[Illustration: 0360]
movement; they are satisfactory in their purely decorative work, but
figures in repose are apt to become 'woodeny.' In point of colour,
Spain beats France; and as France is so much in advance of England, it
scarcely needs a Euclid to demonstrate that English posters cannot be
compared to those of Spain. The latter exhibit at times an admirable
sense of distance and proportion, which serves to show that their
designers learnt to draw before they began to paint." The four examples
reproduced here will serve to indicate the type of Spanish poster most
frequently met with. Whether Spain, in the matter of the pictorial
placard, is in advance of France or not, is a question of taste. However
brilliant the colour of the Spanish _affiche_, the design seems to me to
lack boldness. Take, for example, the "Gran Feria de Cordoba, 1895;" in
this case the whole thing appears to be a series of elaborate details
rather than a bold and impressive design. The poster in Spain, however,
is rapidly becoming of interest, dealing as it does with fascinating
and essentially picturesque subjects. It is difficult to obtain exact
information concerning the artists who design posters in Spain; the
examples which I reproduce here, I cannot attribute to anybody with any
degree of certainty.
The Teutonic temperament is in no sense akin to the Spanish, and the
pictorial posters of Germany are utterly unlike those of Spain. For the
most part the Germans have, in the past, been addicted to elaborate and
often admirably-executed lithographs, such, for instance, as that done
by Ernest Klint for the Musical and Theatrical Exhibition held at Vienna
in 1892. A new movement is, it appears, making itself conspicuous just
now. The younger generation of German designers seem to be as anxious
to experiment in the making of posters as those of France and England.
Joseph Sattler, a designer of considerable originality and great
dexterity, who has studied Albrecht Duerer with great advantage to his
own work, has designed a very curious little window bill to advertise
"Pan." It is reproduced here, and its strange individuality, its
ingenuity, will not fail to make an impression upon those who look at it
closely. The lettering is devised in an extraordinary way, and Sattler
may be congratulated on the results of an interesting experiment. Very
different to the work of Sattler is that of Franz Stuck. This represents
a classical head in mosaic, and advertises an exhibition of the
Munich Secessionists, a body of experimental painters and designers of
rapidly-growing importance. The tendency of the illustrated poster in
Austria is much the same as it is in Germany. Some admirable bills have
been designed in Italy. Of its particular kind, I have seen few things
better than a large and
[Illustration: 0364]
[Illustration: 0366]
[Illustration: 0368]
[Illustration: 0370]
[Illustration: 0372]
sombre poster to advertise Verdi's "Otello." At the same time, the
Italian posters are not of a very distinctive type, nor does Italian
taste concerning them appear to be very fastidious. The crude, enormous,
and vulgar advertisements for Buffalo Bill's exhibition created quite a
sensation in Rome when that redoubtable personage deigned to visit the
most august of European capitals. The modern Romans forgot their Michael
Angelo in the ecstasy induced by the latest enormity of the American
colour printer. It may be noted that some of the posters done for
the Italian railway companies are bright and gay as an Italian summer
itself. The pictorial poster would not seem to have taken a great hold
on Russia, nor, judging from a comparatively recent visit, has it made
much headway in Scandinavia. In Holland, the present artistic vitality
and enterprise of which are at once so astonishing and gratifying, one
meets with very few posters of conspicuous merit. In Belgium, on the
other hand, there are signs that the poster movement has affected not
a few artists of distinction. The placard by Evenepoel, designed to
advertise a publication in connexion with the Antwerp Exhibition, is
excellent in colour and pattern and most decidedly original, owing very
little to any foreign examples. Duyck's "Cortege des Fleurs (Ville de
Bruxelles)" is decorative and pleasing. This artist has also designed
another placard to advertise Spa (Ferme de Frahinfaz). To Delville we
owe a curious little placard, in the Symbolist manner, which advertised
"Pour l'art, Ier exposition a Bruxelles;" the advertisement for the second
exhibition was the work of Ottevaere. A fantastic and rather picturesque
poster was done to announce one of the annual exhibitions of "La Libre
Esthetique." It represents a strange-looking human being standing
among flowers, under a lurid sky, and holding in his hands a decorative
scroll, upon which the legend is inscribed. Amongst other interesting
Belgian placards are the "Velodrome Bruxellois" by G. Gaudy, the "Paul
Hankar" by A. Crespin, and a poster in monochrome in imitation of
a bas-relief bearing the legend "La plus noble force sociale est le
Droit." All of these are reproduced here. It may be noted in conclusion
that most of the Belgian posters show strong signs of French influence.
[Illustration: 0376]
[Illustration: 0378]
[Illustration: 0380]