POSTER POWER
WHETHER DESTINED TO UNITE CITIZENS, OR BEDECK A STUDENT’S WALL, THE BEST POSTERS NOT ONLY CATCH THE EYE, THEY ALSO REFLECT THE SPIRIT OF THEIR AGE
We can’t say for definite who hung the first poster, or when. Was it a Roman entrepreneur announcing the attractions at the local amphitheatre? Or an ancient Greek democrat appealing for your vote? One thing is certain: they were trying to draw eyes to their message.
In a world with myriad media through which to attract attention, the poster has always had distinct advantages. It can be placed exactly where its intended audience will see it. Every poster’s principle message is “Look at me!” Until it has caught your eye, nothing else matters. Only once it has grabbed attention can it proceed to sell you whatever it is selling – ideas or goods, magazines or bicycles, a plea for morality or a temptation into sin. According to Communist poet, playwright and poster designer, Vladimir Mayakovsky, if a poster could not bring a running man to a halt, it had not done its job.
These posters reflect over 100 years of change. The arrival of lithography at the end of the 19th century transformed the art and ushered in a new golden age of posters – liberated by the new possibilities of full colour reproduction to create the most beautiful combinations of art and commerce. Gradually, over the two decades following the Second World War, advertising shifted from using illustration to photography. Then, as now, posters reflected cultural trends, as well as artistic ones – you could likely date a student hall from the posters drawing-pinned ( blu-tack forbidden) on their walls – while they were also vital weapons of propaganda in wartime.
Whether using illustration, photos, a snappy slogan, or all of the above, the best posters convince us using the spirit and artistry of their age. Long may the poster continue to persuade us to LOOK!
ROSIE THE RIVETER (1943)
Rosie the Riveter is a 78-year-old feminist icon. First appearing in the 1940s, she then languished in obscurity for 40 years. Artist J. Howard Miller was commissioned by the company Westinghouse Electric Corporation to create a series of inspirational posters for their factories. In 1943, the year of this poster, women made up 65% of the aviation industry workforce compared with 1% pre-war. Perhaps surprisingly, it was only on display for a fortnight. While, postwar, the government encouraged women back into the home, Rosie (named after a popular song) and her real-life counterparts had lain the foundations for equal workplace opportunities. But it wasn’t until the 1980s that Miller’s image re-emerged, when a nostalgic interest in the 40th anniversary of the war persuaded the US National Archives to license it for merchandise use. The bicep-flexing Rosie was subsequently taken up by the feminist movement.