Posters and Signs

Posters have long been used to advertise events, sell products and promote campaigns, and gained particular importance during the twentieth century. The first modern poster was created by French artist Jules Cheret, and many of the great poster artists of the 19th century, including Bonnard, Grasset, Forain, Steinlen and Toulouse-Lautrec, worked in Paris. The Bauhaus school later experimented with legibility and typography.

Over the last few years the demand for original vintage posters has steadily increased. At Wilson55 we have a track record of selling fine art posters as well as advertising posters and signs on the topics of automobilia, movies and music in our quarterly Modern Art & Design auction.

Political posters in particular give a striking insight into the issues of their time.

Posters took on new importance during the twentieth century, especially during the two World Wars, and continued to exert influence into the Cold War.

Early posters were printed in black and white. When the cost of paper dropped and new printing techniques arrived, mass production followed. That is part of why the 19th-century Paris scene produced so many of the great names in the field.