He was a pencil artist and a scene decorator, who founded a small lithography office in Paris in 1866. ChГ©ret is considered to be the 'father' of advertisement placards. A number of noted French artists created poster art in this period, foremost amongst them Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jules ChГ©ret, EugГЁne Grasset, Adolphe Willette, Pierre Bonnard, Louis Anguetin, the brothers LГ©on and Alfred Choubrac, Georges de Feure, and Henri-Gabriel Ibels. The invention of lithography was soon followed by chromolithography, which allowed for mass editions of posters illustrated in vibrant colors to be printed.Д«y the 1890s, the technique had spread throughout Europe.

The great revolution in posters, however, was the development of printing techniques that allowed for cheap mass production and printing, notably including the technique of lithography, which was invented in 1796 by the German Alois Senefelder. Purely textual posters have a long history: they advertised the plays of Shakespeare and made citizens aware of government proclamations for centuries. Posters, in the form of placards and posted bills, have been used since earliest times, primarily for advertising and announcements. The Queen of Chinatown by Joseph Jarrow, Broadway poster, 1899

'In little more than a hundred years', writes poster expert John Barnicoat, 'it has come to be recognized as a vital art form, attracting artists at every level, from painters such as Toulouse-Lautrec and Mucha to theatrical and commercial designers.' They have ranged in styles from Art Nouveau, Symbolism, Cubism, and Art Deco to the more formal Bauhaus and the often incoherent hippie posters of the 1960s. And finally, advertisers began to market mass-produced consumer goods to a growing populace in urban areas. Second, government censorship of public spaces in countries such as France was lifted. First, the printing industry perfected colour lithography and made mass production of large and inexpensive images possible.

Visually striking, they have been designed to attract the attention of passers-by, making us aware of a political viewpoint, enticing us to attend specific events, or encouraging us to purchase a particular product or service.' The modern poster, as we know it, however, dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, when several separate, but related, changes took place. Lithograph poster for Ranch 10, a Western-themed play by Harry Meredith that opened in New York City in August 1882 Introduction ДЄccording to the French historian Max Gallo, 'for over two hundred years, posters have been displayed in public places all over the world.

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