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Reuters, 10.08.03, 3:44 PM ET
By Richard Chang
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Vintage advertising posters are gracing walls where fine art used to hang, as such graphics have come to be seen as artistic statements, with the rarest ones worth as much as a one-bedroom Manhattan apartment.
This is quite a star turn for posters churned out on newsprint to last a few colorful weeks on a wall or Paris kiosk to promote an event or product. As the first modern mass advertising medium, which had its heyday from the 1880s through the 1950s, the ones that survived are striking, with strong graphics aimed at delivering a punch to passers-by.
"The great thing about posters is that they are accidental art," said Nicholas Lowry, president of Swann Galleries in New York (http://www.swanngalleries.com), which held a landmark auction of French Art Deco posters this month. "They're not made to be saved. It's meant to be advertising, to be rained on, torn down or plastered over. That's the beauty of it."
"It's beautiful graphic design and social history at the same time," added Gail Chisholm, a dealer of 30 years who runs Chisholm Gallery (http://www.vintagepostersnyc.com) in New York. "Prices have gone up enough that I should have just stayed a collector."
While a "Star Wars" or Farah Fawcett-Majors poster from the 1970s might reap a small bonus on eBay (http://www.ebay.com), it's the rare advertising posters from the Art Nouveau (1890-1914) and Art Deco (1925-1940s) periods that have made quantum leaps in value over the last 10 years, with records set at recent auctions.
Last week, a 1929 poster by design titan Paul Colin, advertising "La Revue Blackbirds" at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, sold at Swann for $167,500. It depicts a graphic representation of Adelaide Hall, the most celebrated black female performer in America in the 1920s -- second only to Josephine Baker in Paris -- and two other characters.
The highest price ever paid for a vintage poster was $250,000 for the first one designed by French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1891. The three-sheet poster, measuring 76 inches by 48 inches, sold at Poster Auction International (http:// www.posterplease.com) in New York in 1999.
By contrast, Lautrec's 1895 painting, "L'Abandon ou les deux amies," sold for $8.5 million. Artists of his caliber also produced fine lithographic prints in limited editions for the art market.
"The artistic talent expressed in his prints is the same as that expressed in his poster design work. So posters are a relative bargain," said Louis Bixenman, director of the International Vintage Poster Fair (http://www.posterfair.com) sponsored by Wine Spectator (http://www.winespectator.com) on Nov. 14-16 in New York.
Vintage advertising posters are not to be confused with photographic reproductions and posters created by museums to advertise art exhibitions without the artist's design input. These generally cost about $20 to $50.
Many fine vintage posters -- which by definition must feature original artwork -- can still be bought for $500 to $2,000, though the range has been rising steadily.
Collectors tend to specialize, with top categories including Art Nouveau, with its writhing plant forms and maidens with flowing hair; and Art Deco, with stylish, geometric graphics.
An early 20th century poster by Leonetto Cappiello, whose work promoted Campari, Cinzano and other products, may now cost more than $3,000, when in 1980 the price was a mere $300. Posters by Jules Cheret, whose frothy style is reminiscent of Lautrec's, now cost $8,000 to $10,000. Just a few years ago they were $1,200 to $1,500.
Among travel posters, Adolphe Mouron Cassandre's iconic ship's hull poster for the 1935 launch of the Normandie ocean liner now costs $15,000 to $16,000, up from $3,000 previously.
"It's removing a good part of our clientele -- the young, just out of medical, law or business school (buyer)," said Jack Rennert of Poster Auctions International. "It's not quite an affordable medium as it used to be."
Movie posters are a separate class, with even higher record prices fueled by the fan base of a celebrity rather than the art design itself.
Most forgeries are photographic reproductions -- as opposed to lithographic prints -- so they can be detected through careful scrutiny.
"Look at the borders. If you see at the edge what looks like a tear but you can't feel it, be suspicious," Bixenman said. "Take an ordinary magnifying glass. If it has a dot pattern, it's a photo offset."
Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service
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Gail appearing on Fox TV March 7, 2003
