Artists

Freeman Gage Delamotte collected and engraved alphabets for draughtsmen, masons, painters and lithographers. His books were reprinted through the second half of the nineteenth century.

The plates show full A to Z sets in one alphabet. That is rare on posters, and it is why the books matter here as sources, not as decoration samples.

• British Museum Gothic1906 plate (alphabet after 1480)

All posters by F. G. Delamotte

Chéret was apprenticed to a lithographer at thirteen. He spent the early 1860s in London designing labels and book covers, then returned to Paris in 1866 and opened his own lithographic press.

Working directly on the stone, he drew image and lettering together in a few flat colours. His posters filled Paris walls for three decades and earned him the label “father of the modern poster”. His lettering is loose, condensed and confident, made to be read across a boulevard.

• Quinquina Dubonnet1895
• Saxoléine1895

All posters by Jules Chéret

Bouisset was a painter and lithographer who became one of the best known advertising illustrators of his time. His little girl writing on a wall for Chocolat Menier, first published in the early 1890s and said to be modelled on his daughter Yvonne, became the face of the brand.

He also drew the schoolboy for LU Petit Écolier biscuits. The 1925 Rialta poster is credited "after Bouisset": his girl, reused, with new lettering by the printer's studio.

• Chocolat Menier1925

All posters by Firmin Bouisset

Métivet trained in Paris and worked as an illustrator for magazines and books. He also drew posters for theatre and for public campaigns.

His 1920 Emprunt national sheet for Société Générale sets EMPRUNT NATIONAL and SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE in the same bold outlined capitals over a figure of France.

• Emprunt national1920

All posters by Lucien Métivet

Toulouse-Lautrec moved in the cabaret world of Montmartre and made posters for the Moulin Rouge, the Divan Japonais and Ambassadeurs.

On the Aristide Bruant sheets the name is knocked out of a flat colour block in heavy irregular capitals, with a softer lowercase line underneath.

• Aristide Bruant1892

All posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Penfield studied at the Art Students League and became art editor at Harper’s. From the mid-1890s he designed a poster for each monthly issue.

The sheets use flat colour, strong outlines and hand-drawn serif capitals. HARPER’S and the month name carry the whole message.

• Harper’s November1895

All posters by Edward Penfield

Moser helped found the Vienna Secession and later the Wiener Werkstätte. He designed furniture, glass, books and posters.

Frommes Kalender (1899) stacks FROMMES KALENDER in tall outlined capitals under a figure with an hourglass. The letters are built from repeated vertical strokes.

• Frommes Kalender1899

All posters by Koloman Moser

Cappiello moved to Paris in 1898 and made his name as a caricaturist. He turned to posters soon after and signed a long contract with the printer Vercasson, later moving to Devambez.

His formula was a single striking figure, often unrelated to the product, set against a flat black or coloured ground. Chocolat Klaus in 1903 is usually named as the breakthrough. The lettering on his posters is plain, condensed and loud, which is exactly what makes it useful as type.

• Chocolat Klaus1903
• Maurin Quina1906
• Le Thermogène1909
• Asti Cinzano1920

All posters by Leonetto Cappiello

Erdt trained in Munich and moved to Berlin around 1908, where he worked closely with the printer Hollerbaum & Schmidt. With Lucian Bernhard, Julius Klinger and Julius Gipkens he shaped the Plakatstil, or object poster.

His posters for Opel, Manoli and Problem cigarettes reduced the message to a product and a word. He drew his letters himself, from geometric capitals to soft, bouncy serifs.

• Manoli Limitc. 1910
• Berliner Börsen-Courier1913

All posters by Hans Rudi Erdt