|
|
Book title: First Ladies of the poster |
| Author: Laura Gold | | Item
code: Book. 03 | Description: An exploration
of women's changing roles at the turn-of-the-century,
206 full-color illustrations
gleaned from the personal collection of the author. Introduction by Jack Rennert.
148 pages. Softcover.
Shipped UPS ($5 within US) | |
|
| Price: $45.00 USD | 
|
"Laura
Gold, the first lady of poster dealers, has put together a wonderful and unique
collection." Greg Yaneff
"Laura Gold is one of the prominent
poster dealers in New York, and with a shop in Carnegie Hall certainly the most
visible. She has built collections for her customers for many years, all the while
putting aside choice specimens for herself, as it now turns out. She has specialized
in the subject of women in posters from the turn of the century. Most of them
are from France, not surprisingly, as Paris was the place where the poster boom
all started, when Jules Cheret realized that color lithography was a fantastic
new technology for advertising.
To publish a book today with nothing but
pictures of beautiful women, many of them displaying their charms for worldly
purposes, is bound to rise some politically correct eyebrows. Jack Rennert's preface
takes care of that by pointing out that the use of women as symbols and subjects
has a long tradition, and he adds a picture of Botticelli's Birth of Venus to
prove it.
We could also blame poster pioneer Cheret for setting the tone
in this new field. About 80 %, maybe more, of Cheret's vast poster production
has women as it's main subject. When promoting Saxoleine for example, a smelly
petroleum substance sold in 5 liter cans, he would not show the product in his
posters, but somehow managed to convince you that using it in a lamp was bound
to guarantee a nice evening in the presence of a joyful lady. Jean de Paleologue,
another early affichiste and anatomy emphasizer, even went one step further. Bear
with them, feminists.
All the great masters of early poster design are
represented in the Gold collection, and in the book: Cheret, Paul Berthon, Will
Bradley, Cappiello, Grasset, Henri Gray, J.A. Gruen, Privat Livemont, Mucha, Pal
and many more. Short biographical descriptions are given on about eighty of them,
and there is a little story about each of the posters. Layout and printing is
immaculate, as expected in a book from Posters Please.
A poster collection
often describes the personality of the collector. With this book, Laura Gold clearly
says 'I want the best there is', and I think she's got it, or most of it, anyway."
(Rene Warner, www.posterpage.ch)
Laura Gold The Author,
is
a founding member of the IVPDA (International Vintage Poster Dealers Association)
and currently sits on the Board of Directors. Laura has been the Director of Park
South Gallery at Carnegie Hall since 1965.
| |
Gallery |
News |
History |
About Us |
Contact |
Links 
Search
»
