The Complete "Masters of the Poster"

Who thinks getting a subscription on monthly razor blades is a new thing you'd better think again. In the late 1900's you could get a subscription on poster reproductions, including 16 original originals by artists like Toulouse-Lautrec, Denis, Bonnard, Vallotton and Puvis de Chavannes. How's that for an collectors item?

'The Complete "Masters of the Poster"' is a marvelous overview of all of these 256 posters which includes posters advertising the 'Folies Bergère', 'Van Houten - Cacao' and many more. It's a unique collection of and Art Nouveau designs which would make all museums in the world very happy to show.

This book is an absolute must-have for those who like and Art Nouveau, art and whose into graphic design! Personally I'm a graphic designer and I really enjoyed this book, even though I reviewed an epub version; I'd love to get my hands on the printed version.

Just the thought of a poster subscription series makes me wonder why no one does this today. At the turn of the previous century, with Art Nouveau in full bloom, Victorian still prominent, and Art Deco hinted as the future, posters blossomed. They were most decidedly worth receiving in the mail – four a month, for a full series of 240. Mucha, Toulouse-Lautrec, Grasset and countless others, made their living in advertising.

And here they are, in order, numbered, with stats about the artists, and an overview. The artists were breaking out of the stifling Victorian mould. They were no longer restricted to geometric frameworks. Their subjects could be facing away, playing with the text, woven into the title, or have nothing whatever to do with the product being advertised. The artists made up new fonts like there was no tomorrow. For centuries, there had been only a handful of fonts outside the decorous initial letters of religious text chapters. Here, now, for all to see, was open competition to attract the eye of the passer-by. And in as ultra-modern a fashion as possible.

It was an exuberant era, beautifully assembled in this Dover collection for all to see in outsized pages.

David Wineberg

Ah the gilded age, when the rich lived well, and everything was beautiful, including the advertising posters from the Opera to Electricity to Chocolate Milk.

This is a fabulous collection of those posters, done by famous artists, and not so famous artists. The likes of Toulouse-Lautrec, Jules Cheret, and Maxfield Parrish. Some of these posters are still recognizable today.

My only complaint about this volume is that the notes are in a different section, so you have to flip back and forth to find out about each poster, and the notes that are available are not that informative. But, this does service the purpose of having all these posters in one place, and perhaps it would have to be another book to go into more detail.

Compiling all this material in a single volume was a great idea and I'm glad it's out there. I'm a graphic designer by profession, so this was especially useful to me as reference and study material, not to mention that it sported some of my favorite artists of that era, like Mucha.

256 Prints from the heart
of the art deco period
by names that have become Masters
Toulouse-Latrec
Mucha
Woodbury
Cheret
Fischer
The art contained in this books
is astounding
Reading it is like a class on art history
beautiful and moving
in the way that only true art
is

'The Complete "Masters of the Poster:: All 256 Color Plates from "Les Maitres de l'Affiche' edited by Stanley Appelbaum is a gorgeous collection of art from an earlier age.

Starting with an introductory foreword by the editor, the history of the collection is given. There is an extensive bibliography giving translations for the posters. Then the posters follow. Who knew ads for magazines and chocolate milk could be so elegant? Certainly this is a lost era which valued the beauty in things as simple as advertising. The majority of the collection is in French, but there is English and German as well. Jules Cheret seems to be the most prolific artist in the collection, but there are lots of other artists, including Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec.

It's wonderful collection to feast your eyes on, and I certainly enjoyed getting the chance to read it.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Dover Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

The Complete "Masters of the Poster" is a republication of a book originally published in the 90's. The subject is poster art of the late nineteenth century - the "Belle Epoque" specifically.

Originally, "Masters of the Poster" was a French poster subscription service that sent its members a poster each month, from December 1895 to November 1900. And on sixteen separate months, the lucky subscribers received a bonus original lithograph from a master poster artist. This book collects all 256 posters in full page plates. This is the way a true art book should be.

Each of these posters has been beautifully reproduced so that we of the twenty-first century can enjoy these beautiful and influential Art Nouveau masterpieces. If you are a big fan of posters and Art Nouveau, this book will make you fall in love all over again with them. Mucha, Toulouse-Lautrec, Parrish - the list goes on and on.

There are posters from other countries besides France, and translations of the posters into English is featured in a section in the book. This is so useful and thoughtful, since the posters are appreciated so much more when you know what their purposes are.

A beautiful and well done book, well worth reading even if you are not an art person. I greatly enjoyed it.

This is lovely collection of the 256 plates from "The Masters of Posters" which were produced from the period of 1986 to 1900. This book has lovely smaller reproduction of these plates with a full list of the artist information about the posters. I have always enjoyed these posters and it is good to be able to find out more about them, as well as have them all in the one book. This would make a wonderful coffee table book as the posters are so well known, that people always like to know more about them.

I loved looking at all of these historical plates.

Too bad there aren't poster subscriptions available today. I think I would definitely get one.

The art of the old times, specifically traditional, has the elegance and flair I want to see nowadays. I like seeing historical art/poster/advertisement they use before. It really is timeless.

Beautiful and stunning plates with artists names. Packed with information. An incredible addition to any collection.

On a dull and damp day, sitting in a chair by the heating vent and looking at pretty Art Nouveau posters is an a-okay thing to do. Obviously, the optimal way to do so would be in a big, glossy, coffee-table book, with thick sheets that take both hands to turn and smooth down, but on my iPad works too. Click-click-click, pretty poster after pretty poster. I'd decorate my walls with the ones I liked best if I could.

It's Dover, so bare-bones as Dover often is. Having the translation of the posters in a completely different section than the posters themselves, rather than on the same page as the poster itself, may work better in a print book than the e-book, where one can flip with more impunity. But if you're just in it for the pretty pictures, typography, and graphic design, then really, what do the words matter?

Off to find out which ones are in the public domain for me to print off.

The Complete "Masters of the Poster" All 256 Color Plates from "Les Maitres de l'Affiche" went on sale July 20, 2016.

I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Fantastic collection of art! These posters are beautiful. I also really enjoyed this books feature that it had the text on the posters translated into English, otherwise there were many I wouldn't know at all what they advertised. Knowing the purpose of the poster makes them a lot more interesting and worthwhile! My only dissappointment was that the details for and translation of each poster was in an index at the beginning of the book and not provided with each poster. Otherwise exceeded expectations in number of posters, quality and information about them!

The "it" book for classic posters of this genre. Showcases a variety of artistic styles and features an eclectic array of subjects A treat for poster buffs.

"Les Maîtres de l'Affiche (The Masters of the Poster) is one of the most prestigious and influential art publications in history. Its 256 color plates have preserved for each succeeding generation a wide- ranging selection of outstanding posters from the turn of the century, when the popular art form had reached its first peak. This Dover edition is the first complete republication of the legendary Maîtres set to devote a full large page to each plate.

Les Maîtres de l'Affiche was issued as separate numbered sheets measuring 11 1/4 x 15 1/2 inches. Every month for 60 months, from December 1895 through November 1900, subscribers received a wrapper containing four consecutively numbered poster reproductions. On 16 occasions, the monthly wrapper also contained a bonus plate, not a poster reproduction but a specially created art lithograph. Jules Chéret, father of the modern poster, emerged with the lion's share of the plates, 60 of the 240 numbered poster reproductions and 7 of the 16 unnumbered bonus plates. Of the 97 artists represented in Les Maîtres de l'Affiche, some were preeminent painters and printmakers at various stages of their careers: Toulouse-Lautrec, Denis, Bonnard, Vallotton, Puvis de Chavannes. Others were famous illustrators and cartoonists of the period, still well known to art collectors and bibliophiles: Forain, Caran d'Ache, Ibels, Willete, Boutet de Monvel, Léandre. But there were also all those whose names say "poster," the conquering pioneers of the new medium: Chéret himself, Mucha, Steinlen, the Beggarstaffs, Grasset, Penfield, Parrish, Bradley, and Hardy.

This edition reproduces the plates in their original numerical sequence, one to a page, retaining the standardized tan border introduced by the editors of Les Maîtres. The bonus plates, originally unnumbered and issued at various times, have been given the letters A through P and have been placed at the end of the volume. The List of Plates indicates the exact months in which Maîtres subscribersreceived these bonus plates. In order to keep the plate pages uncluttered, the captions on those pages have been limited to plate number (or letter) and the artist's name. The List of Plates also furnishes essential data on the original full-sized posters: their dimensions, the year in which they were first published, city of publication, and specific print shop responsible. A special Dover feature, which is almost certainly a first ever, is a full literal translation of the text of all posters printed in a language other than English. These are all new direct translations from French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Czech, and Hungarian" (From Publisher)

I am a sucker for vintage pop art posters! It is a gorgeous collection of prints along with with some descriptions behind it. I do think that this book would be better in print as you detach the prints. I also think art books in general are nicer in print.

The Masters of the Poster was a prestigious art publication that collected 256 color plates of turn of the 19th century posters. People basically got the publication back then via subscription; subscribers received four posters via mail every month. The book is a reprint of a 1990 edition; the posters came out between 1895 and 1900. The posters range in content from art to advertising. This Dover edition brings these rare posters in their original numbering sequence to a broader generation.

The book features a list of plates with details about the posters. This is then followed by the art plates reproduced in color. The book also provides literal translations of the text in the posters into English for the posters that were printed into languages other than English. Overall though the notes are pretty minimal.

In the end, the book is a nice and pleasant collection to look over. It is also a glimpse into the 19th century and an art form that is rare now. Libraries with art collections may be interested in this one.