Suggestions on Poster Designing Author(s): A. G. Byrns Reviewed work(s): Source: Brush and Pencil, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Dec.

, 1901), pp. 154-160 Published by: Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25505696 . Accessed: 30/06/2012 19:57
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POSTER By Mucha

SUGGESTIONS

ON

POSTER

DESIGNING

In this age, with its insistent demand for striking designs of every This form description, posters naturally occupy an important place. of art work, as was stated in a recent issue of BRUSH AND PENCIL,was medium of advertising; but the child the child of commercialism-a The poster to-day fills its early has outgrown its swaddling-clothes. functions, but it is recognized also as a legitimate form of art work, If the poster is an expression of the beautiful, pure and simple. important as a means of advertising, how much more so is this the case in its new r6le as a means of decoration. There are some good posters, but a vastly greater number of bad There are cei ones. Why this is one cannot exactlv understand. tainly enough capable artists in this country to produce artistic as to the best designs if they could only come to an understanding and most effective means of meeting the public demand. Many artists attempt poster work and fail because they do not comprehend what a poster is. They treat a poster design as they would a painting for a salon. A poster has this much in common with a painting, it must be well drawn, well composed, and harmoni it is this point which artists ously colored, but besides that-and attempting poster designing forget-it must be strong in its appeal to the masses. A poster must be so gotten up that one is impelled to stop and look at it. It is this power to arrest the attention and to claim recog "striking" quality-that nition from one's intellectual faculties-this '54

SUGGESTIONS is the surest test of a poster's Of course itmust be value. something more than strik it has attracted ing. After re it must one's attention veal qualities which satisfy critical examination; one's its purpose is not otherwise If some bi accomplished. zarre effect causes a casual to stop before a observer and he finds on poster, that it is closer examination he impossible, artistically

ON

POSTER

DESIGNING

ORIGINAL POSTER DESIGN, Fig.I By A. G. Byrns

'/1

POSTER By Mucha

Besides this turns away from it in disgust. main requirement, that a poster be effective there are nu in its appeal to the masses, merous other rules and principles discernible in the work of the best poster designers men like Cheret, Grasset, Hardy, and Mu cha; and every student of decorative art as applied to posters should make a study of the work of these artists. The lettering, if there be any, is one of the most important factors in poster design ing. This must be graceful and legible at the same distance that the other details of let Mucha's the design are made visible. clever, being worked tering is particularly in with the design and made part of it in Many artists, ingenious way. an extremely use a notably Mucha and Privat-Livemont, great deal of so-called ornament and deco There is no danger ration in their designs.

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BRUSH

AND

PENCIL in this as long as the do details decorative not impair the strength of the poster. The ornamental ac cessories must occupy a subordinate place in the composition where used in conjunction with fig ures. The argument is de made that Mucha's signs lose their weight because the profuseness de of the ornament stroys the simplicity and the meaning. involves This is not true, because the elements of his de signs are so arranged as to carry the eye at once to the leading idea

POSTER By Mucha

ornament attracting one's atten -the tion only after the object of the poster as an expression of an idea has been accomplished. Crowds of figures are not effective Theatrical unless treated as a mass. posters are the chief sinners in this for One often sees posters matter. plays on which there are so many fig is not to be dis ures that the meaning like a casual at anything covered glance. The iarger one can draw the figure within the given limits, the more it will It is not necessary to draw a fig tell. ure at full length when a half-length figure would tell the story with equal if not greater force. The fad, prevalent artists, of showing among American merely a pair of hands or half a face is

-dAs

POSTER By Mucha

SUGGESTIONS cul an exaggerated mination of this prin ciple. to color, the As ob more prominent jects and those in the foreground should be in warm colors, while the background should be in colder one is tints. Where obliged to work to a of number limited colors, realism must be sacri sometimes ficed, but this is not a great drawback, as posters are rot sup posed to be pictures Their from nature. main mission is to be

ON

POS'FER

DESIGNING

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POSTER By Mucha

POSTER By Mucha

must everything to which effective, In the case of a single standing tend. figure, all lines should lead to the face. Take the drawing Figure 2: wherever the eye falls it finds some line leading to the face and to the special object Another cigarette. emphasized-the thing which helps the decorative effect one stand is to have the head-where in the exactly ing figure is used-not center of the drawing, but in a space about two-fifths of the distance from one boundary to the other, as in Figure the horizon line should be 3. Again, about level with the eyes of the figure, in the and trees and other objects to help background should be molded The trees and effect. the decorative landscape backgrounds of Maxfield Par of this prin rish are good examples ciple. and falls down drapery Where across the figure, it should begin to fall at a point about two-fifths of the

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BRUSH

AND

PENCIL distance from the feet to the head, as in Figure i. Drapery should not, how ever, cross the figure at a knee, waist, or any other bend in the figure, as this gives the figure the appear ance of being cut. Where the whole figure is shown, the head should be at least twice as close to the top boundary line as the feet are to the lower one. Again, the effect is greatly enhanced if only one hand is represented as being ex erted or in action, although both hands, as well as both feet, must be visible, and as close together as possible.

ORIGINAL POSTER DESIGN, By A. G. Byrns

Fig. 2

Another "trick," and one comparatively easy to accomplish, is to see that the line of the eyebrows is not parallel to the line of the shoulders. As an illustration of this, see Figures i and 2. Walls, rivers, fences, moun tains, chair backs, and other objects to which one does not wish to give prominence, should cross the picture horizontally-the horizontal line in drawing being as unobtru sive as the gray tone in painting. These are only a few of the many "dodges" resorted to by the poster artist. To give the method .of procedure in every possible case would be impossible. To those wishing to study the poster art I would recommend particularly the work of

POSTER By Mucha

SUGGESTIONS

ON

POSTER

DESIGNING

I59

the foremost French and Belgian artists, and of Mucha in particular. over that of his His work possesses many points of excellence His method brother artists. represents the most modern of and artistic development He is a drafts the poster. man of great skill and thor a and possesses oughness, sense of keen remarkably He trans effect. decorative into a forms every object thing of beauty. to a possesses, Mucha large extent, the capacity for taking pains, and he has ac and gen quired a profound he which eral knowledge in finding and using applies for his posters. accessories / to his purpose the He molds bird's object -a smallest wing, a leaf, a root, a blade of grass, a twig, a pebble, a is gem, a knife-everything ac rendered with convincing is too curacy, and nothing insignificant to be turned to account in aiding the decora For tive effect of the whole. every this great designer, and thing has a meaning, is treated in a com nothing monplace manner. How cleverly he manipu figures, lates geometrical tex trees, flowers, plants, birds, ani tures, draperies, vases, chairs, mals, mosaics, flagons, bottles, thrones, of His wealth weapons! ORIGINAL POSTER DESIGN, Fig. 3 is only surpassed knowledge By A. G. Byrns by his great faculties of re source and invention. Added to these is an instinctive sense of beauty and refinement, and dominat ing all else is his remarkable ability invariably to apply these varying talents with due restraint to the purpose in view.

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BRUSH

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PENCIL

It would be eminently desirable if the artists of this country who essay to do poster work would thus give a more careful study to the Old World workers, and would unite on some general line of effort comparable with the best specimens of European product. This would not mean that any artist would have to give up his individual ity-the French and Belgian artists all preserve theirs. It would simply mean the elimination of a vast amount of inferior, ineffective work. There is no reason why American posters should not rival those of Europe. A. G. BYRNS.

POSTER By Mucha

EXAMPLES

OF DECORATION

AND

DESIGN

The following examples of decoration and design will be of value to all practical workers in applied art. In Plate 4, Figure I is a book cover design on leather by Rene Wiener; Figure 2, by Edouard Benedictus; Figure 3, by G. de Feure; and Figure 4, by FranSois De i is a frieze by Rottmann & Co., corchemont. In Plate 5, Figure London; Figure 2, by C. F. A. Voysey; Figure 3, by G. Combaz. In Plate 6, Figures I, 2, and 3 are copper screens by F. Scheidecker; Figure 4, perforated copper plate by Louis Bigaux.