Hillsborough Antique Show

Hello Clients and Poster Friends!

Marton, Geisweiler, c. 1921

We are excited to share our collection of original vintage posters at the Hillsborough Antiques Show  this weekend February 8-10 at the San Mateo Event Center.

We have exhibited at Hillsborough for 13 years! In that time, we have seen you choose beautiful posters, helped you frame them, enjoyed photos of your homes adorned with your collections, met your children, met your parents, and thoroughly enjoyed being your source for original vintage posters.

Constant-Duval, Amboise, c. 1930

We have benefitted tremendously from your referrals, from your good will, and from your enthusiasm about our collection, and our business. Nothing gives us more joy than your anticipation of our recent acquisitions, and geeking out together on dating a poster based on the evolution of the WWI German helmet, or the development of propellers on commercial planes.

Some of you know that we added a new framer a few years ago. We are delighted to work with The Studio Shop in Burlingame. Working with such a talented and professional framer helps fulfill our goal of being your full service poster dealer, choosing frames that take your posters from ‘great’ to ‘stellar’ on your walls.

We were introduced to the Studio by dear clients Harley & Vicki, who raved about the work of this second generation family business. The Studio Shop has been framing for 99 years, and they offer a wide range of frames – from the simplest stem mouldings to hand-carved, water-gilded, closed corner creations, as well as design consultation and installation services.

This weekend, stop by our booth and say hello and pick up a $25 gift card to the Studio Shop. It is a pleasure to refer you to such professionals.

Jules Alexandre-Grun, Cocorico! 1913

Charly and I head to Palm Springs next week for the Palm Springs Modernism Show, so come and see us now before LA snaps up all of the posters! Due to a date conflict with LA Modernism, we will not be exhibiting at the April Hillsborough Show, so see us on the Peninsula while you can!

With Every Good Wish,

Elizabeth, Charly, and Emily
Vintage Poster Concierges

Vintage European Posters
2201 Fourth Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
http://www.vepca.com
510.843.2201

Show Details
Friday 11-8
Saturday 11-7
Sunday 11-5
San Mateo Event Center
Delaware Street Exit from Hwy 92
Visit the website for discount admission coupon
http://www.hillsboroughantiqueshow.com

The Value of an Iconic Image: James Montgomery Flagg and the Famous “I Want You” Poster

Flagg, I Want You, 1917

Those new to collecting posters sometimes ask, “Why buy the original?” To answer that question, let’s take a look at a poster we all recognize, “I Want You” by James Montgomery Flagg, the iconic military recruiting poster from World War I.  The market performance of this poster over the past quarter century is impressive, and like all other posters, it tells a story.  There is a tremendous amount of information to be found about the artist who created this piece, and about the time and tradition from whence this poster came.

There were a recorded 4,000,000 copies of “I Want You” printed in 1917, so this poster could hardly be considered rare.  Yet, like all other advertising posters, the value of the piece today depends on how many are in circulation (remember most posters were used and destroyed) as well as the demand for the poster in question.  When an original “I Want You” poster sold at auction in 1985, it fetched $1,540* , which was high for a World War I poster at the time.  Twenty-one years later in 2006, it fetched $6,900. * Today, this piece can be found on the market for $8,500. This type of appreciation is not unusual for original advertising posters, particularly those by well-known artists.

James Montgomery Flagg was born in 1877 and sold his first illustration to the magazine St. Nicholas at age 12.  He began to illustrate regularly for Life magazine at the age of 14, and went on to work for such popular magazines as Judge, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Liberty and Harper’s Weekly, producing on average of 1 illustration a day. Flagg was proud of his ability to work quickly.  He was a versatile artist, using oil paints, pencil, pen and ink, watercolor and even sculpture.

It is interesting to note that Flagg briefly lived in Paris in 1900, during in the heyday of poster art, when the city streets were made bright with the works of prominent posterists Jules Cheret, Alphonse Mucha, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec and Theophile Steinlen.  One can surmise that Flagg couldn’t help but absorb the fundamentals of good poster design from his exposure to the French masters of illustration.

When World War I broke out and the Division of Pictorial Publicity was formed to create a nationwide poster campaign, Flagg was an inaugural member.  “I Want You” was drawn first as a cover of the magazine “Leslie’s Weekly” and quickly turned into the most successful recruiting poster of all time.

Leete, Your Country Needs You, 1914

The image owes a debt to the 1914 British recruiting poster “Your Country Needs You” designed by Alfred Leete, which features Britain’s Secretary of State Lord Kitchener pointing at the viewer with an imposing stare. While effective in communicating the message to enlist, the poster is monochromatic and stark.  By contrast, the Uncle Sam Image in James Montgomery Flagg’s  “I Want You” is vibrant with color, and the muscle and sinew of the character represent strength and grit.  It is no wonder the artist reprised the character in a number of other WWI posters.

Photographs of Flagg dressed as Uncle Sam during WWII

James Montgomery Flagg was 64 when the US entered World War II, but he didn’t hesitate to step back into his role as a military poster artist.  The artist even posed as Uncle Sam in some of the designs (see image above), and he created other great WWII posters for the Air Force, the Marines, the Red Cross and others.  We currently have poster below in our collection, which revives the imagery of Flagg’s “I Want You” poster to encourage the public to get a war job – list of positions included! Few American illustrators successfully created such a legacy as did Flagg.  The demand for his original advertising posters is a good indicator of where the original advertising poster stands in today’s marketplace.

Flagg, I Need Your Skills in a War Job, 1943

*Poster auctions International

Images from Wikipedia and “James Montgomery Flagg” by Susan E. Meyer

This post was written by Elizabeth Norris, Owner Vintage European Posters, and edited by Emily Jackson, UC Berkeley Art History Student and Gallery Assistant  www.vepca.com

Vintage European Posters was established in 1997. We are the West Coast’s Largest Dealer in Original Vintage Posters from France and the United States. See us online anytime at www.vepca.com and at our Berkeley Showroom OUTPOST 2201 Fourth Street, Tuesdays and Thursdays

The Irish Travel Poster – A Rare Gem

Brandt, Land of Legend, c. 1950

It’s winter here in California, so we are cleaning out our flat files.  We have recently rediscovered several of our Irish travel posters from the mid 20th century, and they are beautiful! Irish posters are few and far between, so if you see one, buy it! Chances are you won’t see another for quite some time.  These came to us a couple of years ago when we bought a collection of over 200 travel posters from a librarian who had collected travel posters as a hobby. Her collection started in 1948 and ended in 1965, and there were posters from Many countries we had never seen represented in the poster before, including South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, Scotland, Tahiti, and Jamaica.

Dublin Coach Tours, c. 1950

The Irish travel posters that we have in our collection were all printed in the 1950′s. In 1945, at the end of WWII, Ireland was reorganizing its transportation system. The Great Southern Railways (GSR) and the Dublin United Transport Company merged to form Coras Iompair Éireann (CIE), which provided Ireland with the nationalized and multifaceted transportation system that is still in place today.* This merging of companies was followed by a large scale campaign to advertise to new and improved transportation, and these posters are examples from the series. The poster above is specifically advertising Dublin’s coach tours.

Poster: Ireland Holiday Travel, Killiney Beach, c. 1950; Top: 2c, Killiney, Co Dublin, Ireland**

This poster was advertising holiday travel by train to the coasts of Ireland. It depicts Killiney, a coastal village just south of Dublin. As you can see, the national railway still passes through today.

Melai, Ireland Invites You, 1955

This poster advertises ‘An Tostal’, a series of Irish festivals celebrating Irish life and culture with parades, and arts and sporting events. These festivals were held between 1953 and 1958,  during which the government printed posters like this encouraged tourists to come celebrate Ireland during the Easter off season.

These posters were meant to appeal to a broad audience across many countries to invite YOU to Ireland, and they still do so today!

*”About Us.” CIE Group of Companies. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2012.<http://www.cie.ie/about_us/schools_and_enthusiasts.asp&gt;.

** Photo Credit to 2c on flickr

This post was written by Emily Jackson, UC Berkeley Art History Student and Gallery Assistant, and edited by Elizabeth Norris, Owner Vintage European Posters  www.vepca.com

Vintage European Posters was established in 1997. We are the West Coast’s Largest Dealer in Original Vintage Posters from France and the United States. See us online anytime at www.vepca.com and at our Berkeley Showroom OUTPOST 2201 Fourth Street, Tuesdays and Thursdays

We will be open during the following weekends in December
Saturday – Sunday, Dec. 8-9
Saturday – Sunday, Dec. 15-16

Honoring WWI and the Strasbourg Statue

Galland, Statue of Strasbourg, 1918

In honor of Veterans Day, still known as Armistice Day in France, we decided to take a look at our collection of WWI posters. This particular poster, designed by the prolific poster artist Andre Galland, celebrates the unveiling of the Strasbourg Statue on Armistice Day 1918. The Strasbourg Statue depicts a woman as the personification of Strasbourg, the capital of the Alsace region in France. It is located in the Place de la Concorde, the largest public square in Paris, and is accompanied by personifications of the seven other capital cities: Bordeaux, Brest, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, and Rouen.

Statue of Strasbourg in Place de la Concorde, Paris

The Alsace region was lost  was lost to Germany in 1871 at the end of the Franco-Prussian War, and was only returned to France at the end of WWI. On Armistice Day November 11, 1918, when Alsace and her capital Strasbourg were once again united with France, the French people honored her statue in the Place de la Concorde.  In celebration of the end of the war, and the return of the Alsace region, she was draped in French Tricolor flags and garlands, which we can see in Galland’s poster.

The inscription at the bottom of the poster reads:

The Statue of Strasbourg, erected like the other cities of France on the Place de la Concorde in Paris, was piously decorated with tricolor flags by the people of Paris … On the evening of the armistice, she shines in the light of the party victory!

The artist, Andre Galland, continued to be a successful poster artist in the decades after WWI, designing posters for the French National Lottery, and several French fertilizer companies like the one below.

Galland, Superguano, c. 1925

Like Galland’s Strasbourg Armistice Day poster, there were many posters, French, British, and American alike, that were printed to celebrate the end of such a devastating tragedy. Now, almost a century later, we still remember the end of the war, and remember those soldiers who have fought in wars around the world.

Christy, Americans All! 1919

This post was written by Emily Jackson, UC Berkeley Art History Student and Gallery Assistant, and edited by Elizabeth Norris, Owner Vintage European Posters  www.vepca.com

Vintage European Posters was established in 1997. We are the West Coast’s Largest Dealer in Original Vintage Posters from France and the United States. See us online anytime at www.vepca.com and at our Berkeley Showroom OUTPOST 2201 Fourth Street, Tuesdays and Thursdays

As well as at pop up open weekends (sign our mailing list to receive updates about pop-ups)

Marianne in the World War One Poster

Real, Inspired and Allegorical Figures in Poster Art

Poster art often features the human figure.  In many cases, the figure is solely an illustration conjured from the imagination of the artist.

Stephane, Cognac Briand, c. 1925

In some instances, the figure is modeled after a real person such as in The Lefevre-Utile ‘LU’ Biscuits poster by David Lance Goines. This image was inspired by Ginger LeFevre, a descendant of the famous cookie family, and Goines shows the little girl reaching for a cookie jar. Likewise, Firmin Bouisset, used his children as models for many of his posters.

Left: Goines, Lu Biscuit Right: Bouisset, Maggi

Sometimes posters feature allegorical figures. Like the advertising posters which came before them, posters from the First World War were designed to motivate the viewer to enlist in the army, or to buy a war bond.  They also had a secondary imperative: to inspire the viewer.  In fact, in the United States, posters were part of a campaign of salesmanship to get the American public behind the war.  American Posters used figures like Uncle Sam, Columbia, and Lady Liberty allegorically.  French Bond Posters used Marianne.

Silver coin featuring Marianne

Marianne is the personification of the Republique Francaise and a symbol of liberty and freedom.  Images of Marianne first appear in 1775 and depict her standing, young and determined, sometimes bare breasted as she leads soldiers into battle.  Her image is allegorical, and is inspired by another allegorical figure, that of Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom and war.

The figure was used on the French postage stamp in 1849, and also on the franc.  Today she appears on the French Euro coin.  We encounter Marianne occasionally in the advertising poster.

Advertising poster for Saponite Laundry Soap, featuring Marianne berating a seated Napoleon

She is, however, best enjoyed in the poster in French World War One Bond and Reconstruction posters.

M. Richard Butz, Souscrivez Pour la Victoire, 1916

In this poster,  created early in the war, a fierce Marianne flies over a battlefield littered with dead soldiers.  Behind her, soldiers march triumphantly.  After one and a half years of brutal battles and many losses, France needed such imagery to stay the course.

Lelong, Credit Nationale, 1920

This reconstruction poster by Rene Lelong features Marianne in red wearing laurels of victory.  She smites a battleaxe turning her blade in for a plough.  The poster is populated with a blacksmith, a teacher, and a farmer, suggesting that France will enjoy a renaissance in construction, culture, and agriculture when the bond is sold successfully.

Droit, Emprunt National, 1920

This beautiful and peaceful image by Lt. Jean Droit shows Marianne steering a boat,  representing commerce, import, and export, through calm waters.  In this image, she wears the Phrygian cap, an ancient symbol of freedom and liberty, which is a typical feature of her garb.

If you visit Paris, keep an eye out for Marianne.  If you know what to look for, you will no doubt spot her.  Here she is at Place de Nation in Paris.

Marianne at Place de Nation

This noble Marianne statue was created by Aime Jules Dalou in 1899, and it is a strong image of history and inspiration.  Although Marianne never lived, her iconic image has left an imprint in France for over a period of almost 225 years.  We feel we know her, we feel we have seen her before, and that we can relate to her.  I guess that is exactly what a good allegory is designed to do.

This post was written by Elizabeth Norris, Owner Vintage European Posters and edited by Emily Jackson, UC Berkeley Art History Student and Gallery Assistant,  www.vepca.com

Vintage European Posters was established in 1997. We are the West Coast’s Largest Dealer in Original Vintage Posters from France and the United States. See us online anytime at www.vepca.com and at our Berkeley Showroom OUTPOST 2201 Fourth Street, Tuesdays and Thursdays

As well as at pop up open weekends (sign our mailing list to receive updates about pop-ups)

We will be exhibiting our posters at the Fall Hillsborough Antiques Show November 2-4