The Art Deco Poster

Posters by their very nature are ephemeral: crookedly plastered on a roadside billboard, tacked to the back of a tabac, they lasted a few weeks until advertisers issued another imaginative argument for soap or an ocean voyage. While few contemporary observers understood the richness of their design or appreciated the ingenuity of their unsung creators, they are now highly prized. William Crouse, long-time poster aficionado, has selected over three hundred of the most sought-after examples of poster art created between the wars to include in this definitive volume.

Organized thematically into subject categories (aviation, communication, fashion, etc.), The Art Deco Poster presents a jaunty cavalcade of international poster design and includes highly rare and even unique examples by masters of the art form, including Nizzoli and Beall.

Each poster — digitally photographed under carefully controlled conditions — is accompanied by an expanded caption that addresses the aesthetic, sociological, economic, and/or political context of the image. Introduced by Art Deco specialist Alastair Duncan, The Art Deco Poster is an essential addition for all interested in graphic design, Art Deco, and life and culture between 1919 and 1939.

William W. Crouse is a long-time collector of twentieth-century posters. He is the author of Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco Posters: The Art, The Artists, and the Competition 1929–2009. He lives in Florida and New York.

Alastair Duncan was for many years an officer and consultant of Christie’s, New York, and is now an independent consultant on the decorative arts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He is the author of many books on the Art Deco period, including Art Deco Complete, Art Nouveau and Art Deco Lighting, Art Deco Furniture, American Art Deco and Art Nouveau, and Art Deco Bookbinding. He lives in New York.