from the Kyoto Institute of Technology Museum and Archives Collection
Modern French Posters Exhibition

Jules Chéret, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Alphonse Mucha and other artists adorned the streetscape with gorgeous posters of the Belle Epoque, the period of affluence and comfort that lasted from the late nineteenth century to the outbreak of the First World War.

In the big cities, the shops were full of merchandise and people enjoyed modern life to the full at bars and cabarets, at the opera and at the theater. As talented young artists from all over the world gathered in Paris, the City of Art, poster design developed to advertise the merchandise, entertainment, and travel.

This exhibition introduces about 110 items from the poster collection at the Museum and Archives, Kyoto Institute of Technology Design Collection. Focused on Art Nouveau and Art Deco items from the formative years of the modern poster, the exhibition traces the history of poster art that projects the mood of those times.