‘A Passion for French Posters’ Exhibit at the Bellevue Art Museum

I recently got the chance to go to the show of French lithographic posters at the Bellevue Art Museum. Think Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergere! The show highlighted 5 masters of the medium: Jules Chéret, Eugène Grasset, Alphonse Mucha, Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. I was familiar with the work of Mucha and Latrec, but the others were new to me. I was impressed by the scale of some of the prints, some of them appearing to be around 7-8 feet tall, which makes sense because they were displayed outside of venues and businesses. I’ve always been fascinated by these works, but have never seen them up-close. Looking closely at the prints you notice the detail marks by the artist, short line strokes of color, wonderful painterly, fluid brush and line work, and vibrant colors. There are also wonderful metallic accents on some of the Mucha prints, which can be noticed up-close. Lithography is a rather time-consuming process, involving chemicals, a large slab of stone, and running it through a press. I’m impressed how these artists achieved such line/drawing fluidity, and color vibrancy in the prints. Also, printmaking/lithography represented the graphic design of the era, and overall, I much prefer it to the computer-generated graphic design work we see today because of the uniqueness and hand-made mastery of skill and craft.

Overall, the show was a nice, small tribute to the masters that were showcased. Some supporting preparatory drawings/sketches would have been nice to see along-side the prints. I also wish the museum would have published an exhibition catalog or other publication to support the show, but it was worth seeing. I’d recommend it. Note: images shown below may or may not be included in the show.

By the way, I’ve got more updates and other blogs I’ll be posting soon, so check back and stay tuned!

#BellevueArtMuseum #AlphonseMucha #Mucha #FrenchPosters #ToulouseLatrec