Tracking the Poster Movement: an inquiry into British modernism by way of the 'British and Foreign Posters Exhibition', Victoria and Albert Museum, 1931.

TY - JOUR

T1 - Tracking the Poster Movement

T2 - an inquiry into British modernism by way of the 'British and Foreign Posters Exhibition', Victoria and Albert Museum, 1931.

AU - Christensen, Line Hjorth

PY - 2015/5/1

Y1 - 2015/5/1

N2 - This article considers poster display as a distinctive activity and defining aspect of British modernism between the First and Second World Wars, looking to the 'Exhibition of British and Foreign Posters' at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1931, the first in the Museum to expose the poster-image as a medium in its own artistic, technical, historical and popular right. The article examines the event as signifying core characteristics of a 'poster movement' prevailing during the inter-war years. The period saw varied exhibitions promoting commercial and graphic design of various kinds, of which 'British and Foreign Posters' is a particularly rich example. The exhibition attracted commercial, artistic and curatorial forces, substantiating the idea of a movement, and approached commercial art from a perspective that raised new awareness towards graphic material in urban and museum space alike. To clarify the curatorial approach the analysis draws on a theoretical scheme of ecological semiotics, the concept of 'counterability' and contextualizing displays, which I name 'poster milieux': this example demonstrates how contemporary commercial art was showcased in combination with historical material, and how the curating of more than 600 graphic items effectively integrated the fundamental fact that posters are defined by their physical rootedness.

AB - This article considers poster display as a distinctive activity and defining aspect of British modernism between the First and Second World Wars, looking to the 'Exhibition of British and Foreign Posters' at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1931, the first in the Museum to expose the poster-image as a medium in its own artistic, technical, historical and popular right. The article examines the event as signifying core characteristics of a 'poster movement' prevailing during the inter-war years. The period saw varied exhibitions promoting commercial and graphic design of various kinds, of which 'British and Foreign Posters' is a particularly rich example. The exhibition attracted commercial, artistic and curatorial forces, substantiating the idea of a movement, and approached commercial art from a perspective that raised new awareness towards graphic material in urban and museum space alike. To clarify the curatorial approach the analysis draws on a theoretical scheme of ecological semiotics, the concept of 'counterability' and contextualizing displays, which I name 'poster milieux': this example demonstrates how contemporary commercial art was showcased in combination with historical material, and how the curating of more than 600 graphic items effectively integrated the fundamental fact that posters are defined by their physical rootedness.

U2 - 10.1093/jdh/epv004

DO - 10.1093/jdh/epv004

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0952-4649

VL - 28

SP - 142

EP - 160

JO - Journal of Design History

JF - Journal of Design History

IS - 2

ER -