Luxury Problems

Winter always finds me dreaming of travel.  This year, we are definitely going back to Europe.  We are overdue to visit with friends, and there are posters, there are always posters to be tracked down.

I think the trip will go like this:

Original San Francisco Via TWA poster

We always have to fly out of San Francisco.  Sigh,  When will Oakland become a real international airport?  Oh well.  Love the architecture of the I.M. Pei designed SFO International terminal.

Germany Fly TWA Jets by David Klein

This time, we will fly into Germany, and rather than simply going thru customs there, will actually leave the airport and visit with friends. We are hoping to see some great architecture, some castles, visit salt mines, and go on ski runs in the sun.

I have to figure out the train schedule to see what our next move will be. But we will definitely spend time in Paris with our family who lives  there.

Original Paris Air France Poster with L'Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysee

While my children have been to France a number of times, I am determined that they know the names of all of the monuments, so we are going to do a tourist trip, an attempt to touch everything from L’Arc de Triomphe Carrosel to Arc De Triomphe L’Etoile.  Of course we will be stopping for Jardin de Luxembourg, Tuileries, L’Orangerie, the Bateaux Mouche, The Promenade Plantee, Opera, Rue de Rivoli, Bois de Boulogne, Place des Vosges, the Marais, and more.

Original Air France Poster "Paris Gateway to Europe"

I can only take so much of any city in the hot summer, so after 4 or 5 days in Paris, we will head to the country.

Original travel poster, circa 1920 "Aix en Provence" by Feguide

Where, it will, without fail, also be hot.  We have enjoyed exploring Provence in the past,  where the wind or “Le Mistral” picks up in the afternoon, howling like a banshee and making the shutters crash if not battened down.  On our last trip we visited Ardeches, saw the incredible rock formation, and swam in the cold river.  Provence offers a rich experience of the past.  The villages are heartbreakingly beautiful, with houses of stone, winding cobbled streets, wooden shutters, window boxes and planters stuffed with roses and pelargoniums.

Original poster from the S.N.C.F. "Provence" by Yves Brayer

The landscape of Provence is made up of chalky, craggy hillsides, dotted with olive trees and surrounded by fields of lavender and sunflowers.  There are ruins on many hills, old fortresses built into the hills, with vantage points in every direction, overgrown stone stairs, and crumbling turrets. You also find restored castles, full of art and tapestry, furniture, weapons and gift shops.  For these you will pay admission.

Now that we know where we are headed, one big choice remains.  Should we fly Air France or United Airlines?

Original "United Airlines San Francisco" poster by Stan Galli

Original "Paris Air France" poster by Vernier

Old Paper, Trash or Treasure?

Take a look at your recycling bin.  Is it full? Half full? All of that paper is on its way to be pulped and then turned into more paper! If you are anything like me, your mail has only a few minutes before it is sorted into your recycling bin.  Now look again- there is some beautiful stuff in your bin- a mailer from your local grocery with illustrations of fruit and flowers, a postcard invite to a photography exhibit.  What if you were a pack rat? A ‘hoarder’, a paper nut?  You might save those bits of paper, and they might eventually go into to boxes, be untouched for decades, only to be to be sifted through years later and marveled at.

Old paper is referred to today as ephemera.  ‘printed matter of passing interest’ ‘lasting for only one day’ But this printed matter is the paper trail of our lives, think of old time scrap books- comprised of theatre programs, birth announcements, report cards, train tickets and more.  There are collectors of seed packets, post cards, stock certificates, greeting cards you name it.  This ‘ephemera’, with time, is infused with meaning, and in turn, with value.

Some paper hanging around the office

Good Finds and Good News

Hello and Happy New Year!

It has been a banner year for VEP.  We settled into our new Berkeley showroom in 2011 with a series of shows – David Lance Goines, Posters from Spain, Food and Wine Posters and now we begin 2012 with a thought provoking show “Peace and Conflict in the Twentieth Century.” I hope you will come and visit with us in January to see this show, which begins with the bourgeoisie Belle Époque, narrates two wars and ends with post war prosperity.  We will be open the next two weekends (January 14-15 and 21-22) and welcome your visit.

The Goods- Boy did we ever get the goods this year! I bought 100 plus posters in July, including some incredible art deco pieces. No sooner had the dust settled when in walked 189 WWII posters, followed by 30 travel posters.  November brought three great Air France posters. Just yesterday, I found 15 posters from Colombia, which I have never seen before.

Shows- we have dramatically reduced the number of shows we do.  At one point, we exhibited at 26 shows per year, effectively making us circus folk.  The shop and the web keep us busy, and as a result, we have reduced the number of shows we do to 12 per year.  If we come to your neighborhood, please, come and see us in person!

Website- It’s ALWAYS kept up to date.  If you see a poster at www.vepca.com, then it is in stock.  We will provide you with a full condition report, and offer a 7-day no questions asked return policy. In 2011 we shipped to seven different countries and all over North America.  You can buy with confidence from anywhere on our website.

Our Mission- We continue to specialize.  In this confusing era in which Target sells food and Costco sells books, we take pride in our sharp focus.  2012 marks my fifteenth year in the poster business, and I am pleased and honored to be your source for one thing and one thing only, ORIGINAL VINTAGE POSTERS.  We strive to provide a full service poster experience, and we offer linen backing, framing, consulting, appraising and exemplary customer service.  Sales were up this year, and we thank you for your patronage.

Are you excited about vintage posters yet? Then friend us on Facebook (search Vep Ca)- where you will hear about our new finds first, and receive news about our shows and pop-up weekends.  Dive deeper by subscribing to our blog www.vepca.wordpress.com.  We wish you a posterful New Year.

With Every Good Wish,

Elizabeth Norris
Focused, Less Itinerant Collector

Charly Leys
Homefront Manager and Mailroom Diva

Vintage European Posters
2201 Fourth St., Berkeley  94710
510.843.2201
www.vepca.com

DETAILS
Open in January:
Every Tuesday and by appointment
Weekends January 14-15, 21-22
Saturdays 11-6, Sundays 11-5

Peace and Conflict in the Twentieth Century

As a means of communication, the poster is a megaphone.  It reflects the attitudes and enthusiasms of a period in history at high volume.

Original "Le Portatif Gramophone" poster by Anonymous, c.1935

No one understands this better than Elizabeth Norris, owner of Vintage European Posters, a Berkeley based dealer of original vintage posters. “You can have a visual experience of every time period of the past century when you spend time with vintage posters,” says Norris, “they deliver history with a palpable punch.”

Vintage European Posters’ showroom features 2012’s first show “Peace and Conflict in the 20^th Century.” The show is organized chronologically. It begins with the decadence of the Belle Epoque Period when liquor flowed and posters were gilded with elements of Art Nouveau: flowing tendrils, seaweed, flowers.

Original "Old Manada Rum" poster by Trourdey, c.1895

Original "La Bourboule" poster by Sim, c.1895

Original "This Device on Hat or Helmet Means U.S Marines" poster by Charles Buckles Falls, c.1917

It also features posters from both wars and the Art Deco Period.

Original "You Knock em Out" poster by John Falter, 1942

Original "Miel Alphandery" poster by Illegible, 1932

The show ends with the expansion of commercial aviation and post war prosperity.

Original "Air France Amerique du Sud" poster by Victor Vasarely, 1959

Original "Vins Clapion" poster by Omnes, c.1955

Peace and conflict in the 20^th century runs through the month of January at Vintage European Posters showroom in Berkeley.  The showroom is open three weekends, January 7-8,  14-15 and 21-22 as well as every Tuesday from 11-5. Vintage European Posters is always available by appointment as well. View the collection at www.vepca.com anytime.

VEP owner Elizabeth Norris and showroom manager Charly Leys in the VEP Showroom

Vintage European Posters 2201 Fourth Street in Berkeley, corner of Allston Way

Two blocks south of University, across from Wine.com

Open Saturdays until 6 pm, Sundays and Tuesdays from 11-5

French Opera Posters

Between 1868 and 1930, Parisian music publishers Hengel & Cie and G. Hartmann commissioned fifty-three opera posters, designed by some of the finest artists of the time, including  Jules Chéret, Alfred Choubrac and Eugène Grasset. This exquisite series  of posters has been collected for years. In 1976, Dover published a book, now quite hard to come by, explaining the fifty-three plates.

These posters were commissioned at a time when the avant garde and the establishment fought over the arts. While tremendous changes in the arts were already taking place, being experimental was still rather risqué. Some musical forms, such as music-halls, cabarets, and operettas, were trying to appeal to the growing masses and middle-class, operas remained the privilege of the aristocracy and bourgeoisie. Focusing on exoticism, ancient myths, legends and love stories of the past, they represented a rather classical and conservative position towards the arts.

The style of the French opera posters mirrors this position.

Original Thais Poster by Manuel Orazi, 1894

In Thais for example, Manuel Orazi chooses to imitate the shape and color of a crumbling papyrus. The use of gold inks, dear to Art Nouveau artists, along with the extremely precise details, add a precious feeling to the piece. Orazi’s depiction of the Egyptian Thais is typical of orientalism, a trend presenting the Orient as a land of treasures, mysteries, and exoticism. The story of the opera itself is rather classical, as it depicts a beautiful, “wild,” pagan woman, Thais, who converts to Christianity under the advice of a monk. As she lays ill in a convent in the desert, the monk confesses his carnal love for her, yet she resists, repents and dies a saint.

Original Griselidis Poster by Flameng, 1901

Flameng’s Griselidis also tries to imitate an older type of illustrations: medieval illuminations. The use of medieval typefaces, the depiction of the devil as a gargoyle, along with the sea and the ships in the background, contribute to create a medieval atmosphere suited to the legend of Griselda. Griselda was a lower-class, beautiful and virtuous woman, who married a marquis. Her husband, so sure of her, accepts the Devil’s proposition to test her fidelity. Here again, virtue triumphs as Griselda withstands all temptation.

Original "Ariane" Poster by Maignan, 1906

Maignan’s Ariane is also emblematic of a classical art form of the time: the historical painting. Maignan was a historical painter, depicting classical scenes that would then be hung in salons. Although the frieze at the bottom of the piece is highly reminiscent of art nouveau, Ariane’s expression along with the folds of her toga recall ancient Greek statues, and conjures up the myth of Ariane. Ariane helped Theseus kill the Minotaur and escape Daedalus’ labyrinth, and then eloped with him. He then abandoned her on an island, where she was later found and wedded by the god Dionysus. The poster shows Ariane in a typical tragic posture, as Theseus’ ship sails away.

Original Cendrillon Poster by Bertrand, 1899

When the opera for Cendrillon (Cinderella) premiered, critics called it “a treat for the eyes.” The same can be said about this gorgeous poster by Bertrand. Although the style is definitely typical of the Art Nouveau movement, Bertrand chooses to portray Cendrillon in quite an original, unexpected way. Her dress and tiara make her look like an oriental princess, the frieze at the bottom with a detail of the shoe recalls the fairytale. The movement present throughout the piece adds to its magical, enchanting feel.

Come take a look at those rare treats in our showroom in Berkeley, at 2201 Fourth Street (corner of Allston Way). We will be open Tuesdays and Thursdays in January, and by appointment.

You can also find opera posters and more art-related pieces on our website: www.vepca.com

This post authored by VEP Intern

Candie Sanderson

Student at la Sorbonne Nouvelle

Edited by VEP Owner

Elizabeth Norris