L'Affichomania: The Passion for French Posters

“Our visitors responded enthusiastically to L'Affichomania. Surprised and delighted by the large scale of posters they had usually seen only in smaller reproductions, they were thrilled by their color and dynamism."

– Lynne D. Ambrosini, PhD
Deputy Director and the Sallie Robinson Wadsworth Chief Curator
Taft Museum of Art

"I have always been enamored by this style of French advertising, so was ecstatic to see an entire exhibit dedicated to this - outside of Paris."

- Exhibition Visitor

Showcasing the remarkable work of five master printmakers, including Jules Chéret, Alphonse Mucha, Eugéne Grasset, Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, L’Affichomania: The Passion for French Posters features approximately 65 posters and ephemera dating from 1875 to 1910, the spirited era in France known as the Belle Époque. These pioneering artists reigned in Paris during this period of artistic proliferation, defining a never-before-seen, and never forgotten, art form.

At the end of the 19th century, France witnessed the first great era of poster art, sometimes called its golden age. Bright and bold and found everywhere along the boulevards of fin-de-siècle Paris, the color posters were heralded as a new art form, a brilliant fusion of craft and commerce. The sudden popularity of posters fueled a passion for collecting them, called affichomania. As pedestrians encountered this lively new scenery posted on the walls and kiosks of Parisian neighborhoods, the pulse of modern life seemed to beat faster.

Drawn from the Driehaus Collection of Fine and Decorative Arts, L’Affichomania: The Passion for French Posters explores the eruption of the poster craze in Paris, bringing to life the exuberant spirit of the Belle Époque.

Please contact TravelingExhibitions@ArtsandArtists.org for more information.

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