Posters on Posters

Year: 1975.

Size: 24 1/2 x 37 1/2 in./62.2 x 95.3 cm

This is an ORIGINAL FIRST PRINTING of this poster by the artist Valdemar Swierzy.

Printed in 1975, it advertises the release of the book 100 Years of Circus Posters. Shown is a rather adorable lion, lifting up his reading glasses as he turns away from his copy of the book to face the viewer.

Year: ca. 1903

Size: 29 3/8 x 41 1/4 in./74.6 x 105 cm

Condition: B / slight tears at folds and corners

A whirlwind of posters, placards, handbills, and postcards celebrates the art of printing—and specifically that of Albert Bergeret. Prouvé had painted their family portrait the previous year, and Bergeret returned to him for this promotion. At the beginning of the 20th century, A. Bergeret & Cie. was already an internationally renowned company that specialized in collotype work and fantastical postcards. By 1903, they produced 75 million cards, as well as tourist albums, brochures, and other publications. This poster is signed “d'après Prouvé.”

Year: 1978

Size: 27 1/4 x 19 1/2 in./69.2 x 49.5 cm

Condition: A

Printed in 1978, it advertises an exhibition of cafe concert advertising posters at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs.

Year: 1996

27 x 39 1/4 inches

In keeping with its aims of supporting and fostering the appreciation of contemporary graphics while celebrating the lithographic traditions from which these designs sprung, Poster Auctions International commissioned a series of original poster designs to commemorate their twice-yealy sales from 1992 through 1997, at which point economic realities prevailed over artistic sentiments. The participating graphic artists comprise a who's who of the world's most-distinguished posterists, and each poster is a limited-edition of 200 numbered copies-all hand-signed-on special stock. Note that the design was also printed in an edition on regular stock to be pasted on the walls of Manhattan prior to each sale. The fact that these posters were papered over or torn down only days after they went up is another reason why these are so rare.

Year: 1995

Size: 27 x 39 inches

In keeping with its aims of supporting and fostering the appreciation of contemporary graphics while celebrating the lithographic traditions from which these designs sprung, Poster Auctions International commissioned a series of original poster designs to commemorate their twice-yealy sales from 1992 through 1997, at which point economic realities prevailed over artistic sentiments. The participating graphic artists comprise a who's who of the world's most-distinguished posterists, and each poster is a limited-edition of 200 numbered copies-all hand-signed-on special stock. Note that the design was also printed in an edition on regular stock to be pasted on the walls of Manhattan prior to each sale. The fact that these posters were papered over or torn down only days after they went up is another reason why these are so rare. Trained as a painter at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Michel Bouvet knew by the time he graduated in 1978 that an easel and palette were not for him.

Year: 1995.

Size: 27 x 39 inches

In keeping with its aims of supporting and fostering the appreciation of contemporary graphics while celebrating the lithographic traditions from which these designs sprung, Poster Auctions International commissioned a series of original poster designs to commemorate their twice-yealy sales from 1992 through 1997, at which point economic realities prevailed over artistic sentiments. The participating graphic artists comprise a who's who of the world's most-distinguished posterists, and each poster is a limited-edition of 200 numbered copies-all hand-signed-on special stock. Note that the design was also printed in an edition on regular stock to be pasted on the walls of Manhattan prior to each sale. The fact that these posters were papered over or torn down only days after they went up is another reason why these are so rare. Niklaus Troxler is a phenomenon bridging two worlds: jazz and poster art. 1966, as a 19 year-old apprentice typesetter, he organized his first jazz concert in his home town of Willisau, Switzerland. The Willisau Festival, which the young commercial artist launched in 1975, has since become one of the world's great jazz events-and the 200-some posters Troxler has designed for it have earned the highest honors, dozens of exhibitions, permanent places in the collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art and top awards almost annually at major international poster competitions. Here, the artist deploys his characteristic flat, bright colors and jazzy geometry to create a cut-paper rooster crowing his auction news.

Year: 1993.

Size: 27 x 39 inches

In keeping with its aims of supporting and fostering the appreciation of contemporary graphics while celebrating the lithographic traditions from which these designs sprung, Poster Auctions International commissioned a series of original poster designs to commemorate their twice-yealy sales from 1992 through 1997, at which point economic realities prevailed over artistic sentiments. The participating graphic artists comprise a who's who of the world's most-distinguished posterists, and each poster is a limited-edition of 200 numbered copies-all hand-signed-on special stock. Note that the design was also printed in an edition on regular stock to be pasted on the walls of Manhattan prior to each sale. The fact that these posters were papered over or torn down only days after they went up is another reason why these are so rare. If any single artist in the postwar period has brought Japanese posters and graphic design to the high regard in which it is universally held, it's Ikko Tanaka. Able to fuse traditional Japanese aesthetics with the demands of the contemporary poster, he updates ideograms as well as he manipulates modern alphabets, all while choosing from forms that stylize the subject of each poster with impeccable concern for their appropriateness. The winner of every major graphic award in the world, including top prize at the Warsaw Poster Biennale, he is also a superb art director whose graphic design studio turns out everything from corporate logos to packaging. This stylized figure in a kimono-of-many-posters captures the essence of his precise conceptions and winning expressions.

Year: 1994.

Size: 27 x 39 inches

In keeping with its aims of supporting and fostering the appreciation of contemporary graphics while celebrating the lithographic traditions from which these designs sprung, Poster Auctions International commissioned a series of original poster designs to commemorate their twice-yealy sales from 1992 through 1997, at which point economic realities prevailed over artistic sentiments. The participating graphic artists comprise a who's who of the world's most-distinguished posterists, and each poster is a limited-edition of 200 numbered copies-all hand-signed-on special stock. Note that the design was also printed in an edition on regular stock to be pasted on the walls of Manhattan prior to each sale. The fact that these posters were papered over or torn down only days after they went up is another reason why these are so rare. Sawka is one of the most talented products of the renowned Polish school of poster art. After initial studies in architecture, he started making posters and prints in the late 1960s. In 1971, as he began a celebrated, decade-long series for the Jazz Nad Odra festival, he was already established as one of the leading poster artists of his generation. His disagreements with the authorities in Communist Poland started during the student riots of 1968; by 1977, with his Polish passport revoked, he was in exile in Paris and New York. The following year, despite strong protest from the Communist Party, he won the prestigious Warsaw Poster Biennale's gold medal. In New York, he became a frequent editorial illustrator for The Times , and his 1982 poster for Poland's Solidarity movement helped to raise money for the fledgling cause. His exhibitions and awards are far too numerous to list, and he has continued creating posters, paintings, theater and concert sets, as well as multimedia pieces. Here, we see clearly the primacy he places on the beauty of free artistic vision and iconography that bears a striking resemblance-purely coincidental, of course-to Howard Stern.

Year: 1997

27 x 39 1/4 inches

In keeping with its aims of supporting and fostering the appreciation of contemporary graphics while celebrating the lithographic traditions from which these designs sprung, Poster Auctions International commissioned a series of original poster designs to commemorate their twice-yealy sales from 1992 through 1997, at which point economic realities prevailed over artistic sentiments. The participating graphic artists comprise a who's who of the world's most-distinguished posterists, and each poster is a limited-edition of 200 numbered copies-all hand-signed-on special stock. Note that the design was also printed in an edition on regular stock to be pasted on the walls of Manhattan prior to each sale. The fact that these posters were papered over or torn down only days after they went up is another reason why these are so rare.