Les Maîtres de l’Affiche (The Masters of the Poster) is one of the most prestigious and influential art publications in history. Its 256 color plates preserve a wide-ranging selection of outstanding posters from the turn of the century, when that popular art form had reached its peak. 

 

In the 1890’s the streets of every great metropolis were enlivened by large, colorful posters. The poster had not only caught the fancy of the broad public, but its best examples were already being regarded as works of art, to be exhibited, reviewed in journals, collected—and reproduced in a more manageable form. 

 

The firm Imprimerie Chaix published reduced chromolithographic versions, in authentic colors, of over 200 top-flight posters by more than 90 great artists, posters that bring the fabulous period to life for us today. This publication, Les Maîtres de l’Affiche, was issued as separate numbered sheets, which subscribers would receive in sets of four, every month for 60 months. 

 

Of the 97 artists represented in Les Maîtres de l’Affiche, some were preeminent painters and printmakers at various stages of their careers: Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard, Vallotton. Others were famous illustrators and cartoonists of the period, and some are known best as pioneers of this new medium.

 

The original turn-of-the-century posters reproduced in Les Maîtres have become rare and treasured reminders of a bygone era.