Topic:

The poster in Europe - A history of development

Brief description:

The series of lectures first introduces the German Poster Museum in the Museum Folkwang. In terms of content, the discussion begins with a brief overview of the poster's predecessors, the leaflets of the 17th to 19th centuries.

With industrialization from the middle of the 19th century, mass production began, and new printing techniques such as lithography and intaglio printing offered new possibilities. The mechanical production of paper and artificial (printing) inks created the conditions for the mass, inexpensive production of large-format posters. These have established themselves as advertising media in the rapidly growing industrialized countries such as France, Great Britain and also in the USA. Large-format colored posters conquered the streets of Europe, initially in France.

New impulses came from Germany and Austria at the beginning of the 20th century. Concepts were developed for the first time that became the origin of modern advertising, and a new visual quality emerged primarily in Berlin and Munich. For the first time, a formal language emerged that followed the needs of advertising in the big city, independent of developments in the visual arts. The film will be shown: "Poster: The birth of modern advertising" (film by Adolfo Conti, 2018).

This development was interrupted by the First World War, new, independent laws of political propaganda emerged and became models for subsequent political poster campaigns, both in the 1920s and up to the present day. Numerous magazines disseminated the information and trends internationally.

The 1920s and 1930s continued this development. The expression of the styles differ nationally. Professional structures were also formed for the training of commercial artists and theoretical considerations, as well as for the foundation of advertising psychology. This development was interrupted by the National Socialists' seizure of power in Germany, then in Austria and finally by World War II. The propaganda posters were formally based on those of World War I, but increased in visual brutality never seen before.

The development of the poster in the post-war period in Europe took two paths. In the western occupied zones and countries, the rich traditions of the 1920s were continued. In the eastern countries, which were dominated by the Soviet Union at the time, a visual language prevailed that followed the ideology; the collective term for this style was "Socialist Realism". At the same time, the globalization of design began, multinational corporations appeared as clients, internationally trained designers worked worldwide. The Internet ensured a limitless exchange of ideas.

Design aspects: What makes good design, how does it stand in its time? What is the relationship to the general situation of advertising, how does it stand to direct competing products and their advertising? Various basic patterns have been developed for the design and impact – not only of posters – which specifically address the physiological possibilities of humans, perception, processing, association and remembering.

Introduction:
The German Poster Museum in the Museum Folkwang
I. A brief look at the forerunners of the poster [17th to 19th centuries]
II. Industrialization and early posters [19th century]
III. First heyday [1896-1914]
IV. Propaganda posters in World War I [1914-1918]
V. New diversity [1918-1933]
VI. Propaganda posters from the Nazi era / World War II [1933-1945]
VII. A new beginning in post-war Europe [1945-1961]
VIII. Division of Europe / Globalization of Design I [1961-1989]
IX. Globalized design II [1990-present]
X. Design aspects