“L’Affichomania: The Passion for French Posters” has just opened at the Driehaus Museum in Chicago. The exhibition features nearly 50 works by the five greats of the Vintage Poster era: Jules Chéret, Eugène Grasset, Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Alphonse Mucha. The works featured were created between 1875-1910, known as the Belle Époque era. Posters of that time were found all over Paris advertising everything from cabaret performances to milk. These works became highly collectable and were sold as special editions and acquired by stealthy removals from public displays. These works were the perfect fusion of art and commerce, and the coveting of these ephemeral works became known as “affichomanie”. With works drawn from the Driehaus Collection of Fine and Decorative Arts, the exhibition features iconic images such as Steinlen’s Let Chat Noir and Toulouse Lautrec’s Moulin Rouge: La Goulue. See McGaw Graphics’ Vintage Poster Collection, with more to come in mid-March.
