Moulin Rouge--La Gouloue, 1891, Henri de Toulous-Lautrec |
Color reproductions were largely the product of the last decades of the nineteenth century when there developed a fondness on the part of the public for advertising posters designed by artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. These posters often disappeared from the walls of the city almost as soon as they were put up. They were, in a sense, "free" artwork--instant collectibles. And, of course, even today, collectors relish posters, advertising everything from movies to art exhibits. There is a certain "chic" quality to the well-chosen, well-mounted poster that somehow seems less pretentious than an original oil painting.
Love or Duty, 1873, Gabriele Castagnola |
Art collectors of color reproductions are indebted to a French artist by the name of Jules Cheret for his invention of Chromolithography around 1866. Initially his work was largely commercial--menus, a few book illustrations, and especially posters. By 1884 however, his posters were being chronicled by art historians such as Joris-Karl Huysman who advised his readers to collect them rather than paintings. Soon, however, they could, in a sense, do both, as established painters began creating works of art specifically for Cheret's printing process. And, like those before them who had used the medium of etching to bring reproductions of works by famous artists to the general public, so artists such as Cezanne, Renoir, Whistler, Gauguin, Pissarro, Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard found themselves creating lithographic copies of famous paintings, as well as their own.
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