The birth of poster advertising

The emergence of the modern poster is closely linked to the development of modern society. The industrial revolution created new economic needs that required the mass production and marketing of new consumer goods and travel destinations. The middle classes wanted to be entertained and had the time and money to travel and occasionally afford luxury goods.

Posters were first used in the mid-19th century to publicise travel destinations and new goods to the mobile, wealthy societies of Europe and America. As a trivial mass medium, it communicated the new needs and also stimulated the desire to buy. The large-format poster painting gave way to the paper sheet. The building walls and pillars of Europe were transformed into a panorama of advertising. Many painters who had lost work due to the advance of colour lithography had to learn to use the new technique and the new medium.

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