An A-Z visitors guide to Milwaukee Wisconsin. Sponsored by Key Magazine Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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Posters bring excitement to Milwaukee Art Museum THIS SUMMER, the Milwaukee Art Museum transports visitors to 19th-century Paris with its fea- ture exhibition, Posters of Paris: Toulouse-Lautrec and His Contemporaries. The exhibit features more than 100 of these posters (including a few designs that were originally cen- sored) by artists hailed as masters of the medium: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jules Chéret, Pierre Bonnard, and Alphonse Mucha, and others. "These works celebrated the dawn of new enter- tainment, new products, and new technology," said Mary Weaver Chapin, exhibition curator. "The posters were audacious, colorful, bawdy, and some- times even profane. Art critics praised the artistic posters for bringing joy and color to daily life and for giving Paris a free 'museum for the masses,' an open-air exhibition that changed daily as new posters were pasted up," said Chapin. "Some critics went further, describing the posters as superior to the paintings found in exhibitions." Posters were the popular tools for advertising and communication at the time, similar to today's social media. The arrival of a new poster was newsworthy and could draw a crowd. In some cases, police intervention was required. Billposting itself turned competitive and evolved into public theater, adding to the spectacle one encountered on the streets. Posters were so popular that collectors stole them from billboards almost as soon as they were pasted up. New markets emerged to meet the demand; posters were both collectors' items and fashionable home décor. Print dealers started to sell posters and publishers offered subscriptions to portfolios with the most popular images of the day in more man- ageable, reduced sizes. Posters that found their way into private homes eventually entered the collec- tions of museums all over the world. The museum at 700 N. Art Museum Dr. is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. every day through Labor Day and until 8 p.m. on Thursdays. Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for students with ID, seniors 65 and older. Free for active military and families, and free the first Thursday every month. All special exhibi- tions are included in the entrance fee. 46