Posters

The Belle Epoque Area, called the Belle Epoque in France, a poster craze came into full bloom. Toulouse Lautrecs first poster, Moulin Rouge, elevated the status of the poster to fine art. Poster exhibitions, magazines and dealers proliferated, satisfying the publics love affair with the poster. Early in the decade, the pioneering Parisian dealer Sagot listed different posters in his sales catalog. Alphonse Mucha, a Czech working in Paris, created the first masterpiece of Art Nouveau poster design.
The flowery, ornate style was born practically overnight when Mucha was pressed to produce a poster for Sarah Bernhardt, the brilliant actress who had taken Paris by storm. Bearing multiple influences including the Pre Raphaelites, the Arts and Crafts Movement, and Byzantine art, this style was to dominate the Parisian scene for the next ten years and to become the major international decorative art movement up until World War.The poster slowly took hold in other countries, but quickened during the Belle Epoque. In each country, the poster came to the fore to celebrate the societys unique cultural institutions. In France, the cult of the café including absinthe and other alcoholic products as omnipresent in Italy the opera and fashion in Spain the bullfight and festivals in Holland literature and products for the home in Germany trade fairs and magazines, in Britain and America literary journals and the circus. The first poster shows were held in Great Britain and Italy, Germany, and Russia. The most important poster show ever, to many observers, was held in Reims, France and featured an unbelievable posters arranged by country. Despite cross pollination, distinctive national styles became more apparent as the Belle Epoque progressed. Dutch posters were marked by restraint and orderliness Italian posters by their drama and grand scale German posters for their directness and medievalism. The all powerful influence of France had found a counterbalance