L’Affichomania: The Passion for French Posters

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Richard H. Driehaus Museum
Alphonse Mucha, "Zodiac," 1896, color lithograph on silk, photograph by John Faier, © 2019

Features

  • Free Admission
    • Yes
  • Museum/Gallery Type
    • Art

L’Affichomania: The Passion for French Posters

*This event has ended. Please return for future event scheduling information.

Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
700 N 12th St - Wausau, WI 54403
Information: 715-845-7010
View Website Favorite

Showcasing the remarkable work of five master printmakers, Jules Chéret, Alphonse Mucha, Eugène Grasset, Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, "L’Affichomania: The Passion for French Posters" features more than sixty posters and ephemera dating from 1875 to 1910. These pioneering artists reigned in Paris during this period of artistic proliferation, defining a never-before-seen, and never forgotten, art form. Peppering the walls and kiosks of Parisian neighborhoods, boldly colorful posters were heralded as a new art form, a brilliant fusion of craft and commerce. The sudden popularity of posters fueled a passion for collecting them, called affichomania. Organized by The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, Chicago, and toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington D.C., the exhibition explores the eruption of the poster craze in Paris conveying the exuberance of the spirited era in France known as the Belle Époque.