Graphic Art
(1900 - 1940)
   After the invention of lithography in the mid-1790s, a number of artists had used the new medium to produce fine art prints. But as a result of the more bountiful use of lithography by newspaper, the medium soon became identified with the popular arts.

   In the late 19th century print renaissance began with another new medium chromolithography. The artist largely responsible for it was a poster designer, Jules Cheret. He produced a variety of commercial work, from menus to posters and specialized in color lithography. His theater and café posters of the late 1860s and 1870s attracted the attention of both collectors and critics.

   By the end of the decade the poster vogue was in full flower not only in France but throughout the West. A number of talented and ambitious young artists turned their attention to designing them, including Alexandre Steinlen, Eugene Grasset, Alphonse Mucha, Will Bradley, Maxfield Parrish, Ethel Reed, John Sloan, Maurice Prendergast, and the Beggarstaff brothers. The most famous poster artist was Henry de Toulouse-Lautrec.

   Graphic arts gave the tempo and visual melody of the age. Through the graphic works of talented artists, every innovation was immediately part of the everyday world. Books, newspapers, posters, tracts and advertisements, so specific, influential with words, signs and images were fashioned and arranged to suit differing aesthetic (La Belle Epoque, Art Nouveau, Vienna Secession, Art Deco, Glasgow School, Dada, Futurism…), economic and artistic dictates.