Advertising posters: a guide to choosing and hanging them
Aperitifs, cinema, treats or train travel: advertising posters tell very different stories. Here is how to choose them and pair them together.
Key points
- 222 posters in the Kitchen posters collection, the 20 from this article in the table below.
- From $20.00 in A4, up to $74.00 in A0, 5 sizes for each poster.
- Printed in the United States on demand, free delivery from $69.
The table
The 20 posters at a glance
The advertising poster: many scenes, one genre
Behind the word “advertising” lies a wide variety of scenes: drinks with friends, a night at the movies, a treat from the bakery, a trip by train or car. What they share is a graphic style, often done in Art Deco, that borrows the visual codes of French posters from the early 20th century.
Aperitifs and treats
A glass of aperitif, a croissant, candy or chocolate: these posters draw on the codes of prewar food graphics, with flat blocks of color and carefully crafted lettering. They naturally find their place in a kitchen or dining nook, alongside a vintage kitchen poster.
Cinema and shows
A projectionist, a film reel, popcorn: the cinema of the 1930s to 1950s is one of the most common subjects in this collection. These posters suit a living room or a reading nook, in a spirit close to a fashion poster from the same era.
Travel, trains and cars
A steam locomotive, a convertible, a gas pump: these posters capture the spirit of the big transport companies of the early 20th century, even before advertising photography arrived. An A3 or A2 size works well in an office or entryway.
Where to hang an advertising poster
The kitchen for tasty subjects, the living room for cinema, the office or entryway for travel: each scene has its natural room. For the origins of this graphic style, our guide to the history of the French advertising poster traces a century of illustration, from Chéret to Savignac.
Cheese and milk, flavors of the farm
Other posters in the collection capture the spirit of country ads rather than that of the bistro or the cinema: the Basque sheep’s milk cheese poster sets a wheel of tomme and a jar of black cherry jam in front of rolling hills and a shepherd’s staff, and the farm milk poster stands a large glass bottle in the middle of a meadow, with a cow and a red barn.
Tomatoes and preserves, the grocery store of yesteryear
2 other posters capture the spirit of early 20th-century artisan grocers: the heirloom tomatoes poster shows a market stall overflowing with tomatoes under a striped awning, facing the sea, and the preserved fruit jar poster surrounds a jar of peaches with stylized foliage and flowers.
Beer and whiskey, a more masculine register
One poster sets a bottle and a glass of beer in a bucket, between hops and ears of wheat, in front of a farm brewery at sunset. Another shows a man in a suit in front of a fireplace, for a whiskey poster with a more hushed mood. Both depart from the aperitif glass mentioned above, and suit a bar corner or an office better than a kitchen.
Build this wall
3 posters from this article, at true scale
All 3 posters: $106.00
Frequently asked questions
You often ask us
What is the difference between an advertising poster and an Art Deco poster?
An advertising poster showcases a product or a brand (aperitif, cinema, travel), often in an Art Deco graphic style: the 2 overlap, but not every Art Deco poster is advertising.
Which room is best for an advertising poster?
The kitchen suits tasty subjects (aperitif, pastries), the living room suits cinema posters, and the office or entryway suits travel and car posters.
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