poster of paris

Thanks to a friend's recommendation and the fact it was still 100 degrees outside, my mom and I decided to check out the Milwaukee Art Museum's "Posters of Paris: Toulouse-Lautrec & His Contemporaries" yesterday afternoon. We lucked out because it was actually free to get in last night which is always an added bonus! 

The MAM has got to be one of my favorite spots in the city-the architecture of the building and it's location right on the lakefront is perfection. If you are every in the area, you really have to take the time to check it out-even if it's just looking at it from the outside, so. cool. 

The exhibition was really interesting and visually really fun to look at. We learned about Jules Cheret, known as the "Father of the Poster", who inspired many of the other printers of that time, all working to advertise the different artists, performers, performance spaces, and products throughout the streets of Paris. Apparently at times, every single wall space was completely covered with all of these posters-not a bare spot to be found! I loved that the "celebrities" of the time could be found in many of the posters and some of the printers would often give attention to those who weren't very famous at all, they just liked them. Good to know a poster printer at that time I suppose! People quickly recognized the talent and the value of the posters and often would steal them for their collections. 

My two favorite prints you can see below! The first by Jules Cheret, who always had dramatically elongated figures interacting with the text, and the other is by Pierre Bonnard, who actually did not have a very long poster-making career, but was said to have inspired many of the other creators in their own work.

I was really glad we took the time to go see this exhibit-it was such a fun (and cool, literally) way to spend the afternoon. The "Posters of Paris" is at the Milwaukee Art Museum until September 9th and is definitely worth checking out!