Turn of the Century Poster for Paint, printed in France

Dear Clients and Friends,

Yay! It’s time for Healdsburg Antiques on the Plaza .  This Sunday, May 27^thwill be our ONLY appearance in the North Bay in 2012.  We have great posters to share with you, some we have never seen before .

Original Poster for Philips Transistor Radios

What do you like to do on the weekends?  Is it bicycle?

Taste wine?

Original Vintage poster for L’Echanson Wine, printed in France circa 1960 “The Wine for Every Day”

Or travel?

Original Vintage Poster “Spain, fly TWA” by David Klein

Whatever it is that you love to do, I bet we can find a poster that speaks to that joy!

Original United Nations Poster by Binder, printed for United Airlines

If you have original vintage posters in your home, you know that they bring history and color into your home, and that they are a focal point in any room. You also know that our collection is one of the largest on the left coast and that it is dynamic!  We sell posters, and then we never see some of them again, so its important if you are on the trail of something original and vintage for your wall,  that you visit with us often.

We have a shop now in Berkeley, it has been great fun for us to learn the new skills of curating a show in a gallery setting, but it has also made doing shows much more work than it used to be, when our business was solely show based.  As a result, we now limit the number of shows we exhibit at.

Original Poster by Metlicovitz for the Turin Fair of Industry and Labour, 1911

I hope you can make some time to visit with us in the cutest little town in the wine country.  And if you are in Berkeley, give us a shout, we’d love to see you here, always on Tuesdays, and by appointment.

With Every Good Wish,

Elizabeth, Charly and Emily

Vintage Poster Geeks

The Details

Healdsburg Antiques on the Plaza

Sunday May 24^th (one day only)

Town Square Between Center and Matheson Street

Central Healdsburg Exit from Hwy 101

Original Metlicovitz for the Turin Fair, printed in Italy in 1911

In the 19^th Century Worlds Fairs and International Expositions were much anticipated glorious and elaborate  events hosted by wealthy and prominent cities.

These fairs featured pavilions from many countries, which were constructed over a period of one year, by prominent architects and designers representing their countries.  Participants strived to feature modern innovations in technology, commerce and the arts and spared no expense in the construction and display of their goods and technologies.

The Turin Exposition of 1911 was a proud moment in Italian history, held just 50 years after the reunification of Italy It served as a proud spotlight on Turin as a modern city.  The fair opened on April 29^th and lasted for 6 months .  It was held in the Parco del Valentino.  The Exposition’s focus was on Industry and Labor, to distinguish itself from another Exposition held in Rome the same year with a focus on the arts.

The artist chosen to create the impressive poster for the event was Leopoldo Metlicovitz, (1868-1944) an Italian of Serbian descent, born in Trieste.  Metlicovitz was not formally trained as an artist but exhibited a rare talent in capturing light and shadow, and he rose to prominence quickly after his arrival in Milan during the pinnacle of Belle Epoque poster design.  He joined the foremost printing house Ricordi, where he studied with Italian poster designer Adolph Hohenstein.  After Hohenstein’s departure, Metlicovitz was named Ricordi’s artistic director. He went on to create famous posters for the prominent department store Mele  among others.

The poster Metlicoviz created for the Turin Fair captures the very best of classical realism.  The figures are proud, perfect in form, and the flag they display represents unified  Italy with the great city of Torino  rich in commerce, industry, architecture spread out behind them.

VINTAGE EUROPEAN POSTERS

Original Posters From 1880 To 1960

Member, International Vintage Poster Dealers Association

SHOWROOM:

2201 Fourth Street

Berkeley, California 94710

510.843.2201

vepca.com

ABOUT VINTAGE POSTERS

Original Posters have been collected for more than a century. Since their inception in the 1860s, the public has adored these eye-catching graphics and competed to own them. Early poster aficionados pulled posters from outdoor walls, read poster collecting magazines, and attended gallery exhibitions of poster art.

Today, if you develop a taste for original posters, you must search to find the ones you love. Spend time with a knowledgable dealer to gain an understanding of the historical and cultural context of posters. Buy what you love and you will be happy with your collection for years to come.

WHAT IS A VINTAGE POSTER?

Original posters were printed for advertising purposes. They were printed in the same time period in which they were designed. Posters were printed on cheap paper and not expected to last.

Because the posters are fragile, we have them linen backed. This is a conservation process. The posters are washed to deacidify the paper and wet mounted onto a fabric backing. This process is recommended by museums and is water reversible.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

We have been in the business of buying and selling original vintage posters since 1997.

Today, we operate a showroom in Berkeley, where we offer custom framing, linen backing, and host special events. Our entire inventory of original posters can be viewed at pop-up weekends and by appointment.

You can also see us at select shows in Los Angeles, Healdsburg and the SF Peninsula. Sign our mailing list to receive our newsletter, and invitations to special events in your area.

Our website vepca.com is updated weekly. Everything on our website is available and ships within 2 business days.

-Elizabeth Norris, Owner

Geek out with our blog: vepca.wordpress.com

subscribe to our mailing list at vepca.com to receive invites to pop up weekends and events in your area

VINTAGE EUROPEAN POSTERS

Original Posters From 1880 To 1960

Member, International Vintage Poster Dealers Association

SHOWROOM:

2201 Fourth Street

Berkeley, California 94710

510.843.2201

vepca.com

ABOUT VINTAGE POSTERS

Original Posters have been collected for more than a century. Since their inception in the 1860s, the public has adored these eye-catching graphics and competed to own them. Early poster aficionados pulled posters from outdoor walls, read poster collecting magazines, and attended gallery exhibitions of poster art.

Today, if you develop a taste for original posters, you must search to find the ones you love. Spend time with a knowledgable dealer to gain an understanding of the historical and cultural context of posters. Buy what you love and you will be happy with your collection for years to come.

WHAT IS A VINTAGE POSTER?

Original posters were printed for advertising purposes. They were printed in the same time period in which they were designed. Posters were printed on cheap paper and not expected to last.

Because the posters are fragile, we have them linen backed. This is a conservation process. The posters are washed to deacidify the paper and wet mounted onto a fabric backing. This process is recommended by museums and is water reversible.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

We have been in the business of buying and selling original vintage posters since 1997.

Today, we operate a showroom in Berkeley, where we offer custom framing, linen backing, and host special events. Our entire inventory of original posters can be viewed at pop-up weekends and by appointment.

You can also see us at select shows in Los Angeles, Healdsburg and the SF Peninsula. Sign our mailing list to receive our newsletter, and invitations to special events in your area.

Our website vepca.com is updated weekly. Everything on our website is available and ships within 2 business days.

-Elizabeth Norris, Owner

Geek out with our blog: vepca.wordpress.com

subscribe to our mailing list at vepca.com to receive invites to pop up weekends and events in your area

Original Exhibition Poster "Hommage a Fernand Mourlot" by Jirlow, printed by Atelier Mourlot, Paris in 1990

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)

Marc Chagall lived a life that spanned the 20^th century.  He was born in Vitebsk, a  Russian Jewish ‘Shtetl” or village in 1887,  and his young life was made up of family, village, and farm.  His desire to become an artist brought him first to St. Petersburg in 1907and then to Paris where the arts were flourishing. in 1910.  To earn money, he worked as a servant and a sign painter.  Chagall’s paintings were first exhibited in Paris in 1912 when the artist was only 25 years old. His early paintings are rich with imagery from his childhood, chickens, goats, church windows, and throughout his career he revisits the warm and pastoral village that shaped him in a style referred to as naïve realism.

Original Exhibition Poster by Marc Chagall "Menton" printed in Paris by Fernand Mourlot in 1968

Chagall spent WWI back in his native Russia, where he married Bella in 1915. After the war, the two of them spent time in Berlin and settled in Paris where they spent the 1920s enjoying the life of a successful artist in the ‘city of light’.

Chagall was friends with the influential editor and dealer Ambroise Vollard who commissioned him to create book illustrations in the 1920s, and encouraged Chagall to explore the themes of the circus and the bible in his paintings. In 1931, Vollard commissioned Chagall to create 100 etchings depicting the bible, and so The artists and his wife visited Syria and Palestine for inspiration.

"Vitraux Pour Jerusalem" by Marc Chagall Original Exhibition Poster printed in Paris in 1961 printer Fernand Mourlot

Chagall spent time in the South of France, moving to Gordes in Provence in 1940.  He loved the light, the flowers and the landscapes of the South of France, and these inform his work from this period and going forward. For a second time, the war interrupted his path, and Chagall, Bella and their daughter Ida avoided the occupation by emigrating to the United States at the invitation of the NY Museum of Modern Art. Tragically, Bella died of pneumonia in the states in 1944.

After the war, Chagall settled again in South of France, this time in Vence, Nice where he revisited the themes of the bible, the circus, his childhood, Judaism in his work.  In 1950, at the age of 63, he began to work with the esteemed printer Mourlot in Paris, there he with studied with master lithographer Charles Sorlier. and explored color lithography. “Chagall wrote in 1960, “When I held a lithographic stone or a copperplate in my hand I thought I was touching a talisman. It seemed to me that I could put all my joys and sorrows in it..Everything that touched my life through the years, births, deaths, weddings, flowers, animals, birds, the poor workers, my parents, lovers in the night, the biblical prophets, on the street, at home, in the temple and in heaven. And as I grew older, the tragedy of life within us and around us.”*

"Offrande a Tour Eiffel" by Marc Chagall

Chagall’s embrace of the medium of color lithography is apparent in his work. When working in this medium, artists traditionally begin with a black outline and then produce subsequent color plates.  Chagall built layer upon layer with pure color and the resulting lithographs are so dense that they resemble paintings, with color so lush, it looks as if you could scrape it off the page.

In 1952 Chagall was commissioned to illustrate the pastoral romance of Daphnis and Chloe. That year, he married for a second time to Vava, On their honeymoon, they explored Greece where they fell in love with the ancient story of Daphnis and Chloe. Chagall returned home to Nice and began to work on the series.  In 1958, he was commissioned by the Paris Opera House to create sets and costumes for the ballet of Daphnis and Chloe.  The artist worked closely with the director and the dancers, and his paintings were informed by this. It is interesting to note that the first poster designer, Jules Cheret, studied the dancer Loie Fuller and brought her graceful visage to posters in 1891.  Alphonse Mucha designed stage sets, costumes and jewelry, and Eugene Grasset created wallpaper and volumes of botanical illustration.

"Le Lecon de Philetas" Original Chagall Exhibition Poster printed in Paris by Atelier Mourlot in 1987

For the remainder of his career, Chagall continued to create beautiful and rich paintings and lithographs filled with mysticism, folklore, romance, the bible, the circus, landscapes , musicians, Russian Judaism.  He was an unparalleled colorist, and was admired for his skill as a painter and a print maker.  He courageously embraced new techniques throughout career and was rewarded with many opportunities and honors.

Chagall was considered to be the ‘last survivor of the first generation of American Modernists’.  Born in 1877, Chagall lived through two wars, made his home in 5 countries and witnessed the impressionists, the fauvists, the symbolists, the surrealists, and the birth of modern art. In 1973, When Chagall was 86 years old, The Musee de Chagall opened in Nice.  Five years later in 1977, The Louvre, which rarely exhibited the work of a living artist , featured  62 his works.

Picasso said “When Matisse dies Chagall will be the only painter alive who understands what color really is.” With the death of Chagall in 1985, the world lost it’s finest colorist. *

*Marc Chagall Printmaker” by James Healy, 2002 from the Weinstein Gallery

Visit our website and click on view the collection select ‘art exhibitions’  to see our new acquisitions.  All of these posters are original art exhibition posters, printed by the esteemed printer Fernand Mourlot.  All are linen backed archivally and can be shipped worldwide.