International Poster Gallery presents “Ice Breakers: Hot Posters for a Cold Season”, a playful exhibition featuring posters hot and cold – winter sports, tropical destinations, spirits and other products to celebrate the season. The exhibition is free and open to the public and will be on view February 2 through March 20, 2009. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday 10 am to 6 pm and Sunday noon to 6 pm. The Gallery is located at 205 Newbury Street in Boston. Call (617) 375-0076 or visit www.InternationalPoster.com for information.
Show highlights include:
Diablerets Apertitif Sain, 1920, by Frederic Rouge. This rare poster, attributed to Frederic Rouge, advertises an aperitif from its namesake village & peak in the Swiss Alps where its herbal ingredients are found. Located near Gstaad, Diablerets, “Devil” in English, is now a leading ski area.
Meta Meta, 1941, by Niklaus Stoecklin. Stoeklin’s design for Meta, a company that produced cooking briquettes, is one of the most celebrated posters of the Object Poster Style. The style dominated Swiss product advertising from the ’20s through the ’50s, employing simple, bold and photorealistic imagery. This design won a Swiss poster of the Year Award in the competition’s inaugural year, 1941. A highly sought-after poster, the Museum of Modern Art in New York acquired an impression of this piece from International Poster Gallery several years ago.
Cairo Egypt, 1910, by Mario Borgoni. Borgoni’s bold poster promoted two of Egypt’s most popular turn-of-the-century destinations, Wagon Lits’ Shepheard’s Hotel and Ghezireh Palace. Shepheard’s Hotel opened in 1841, catering primarily to Europeans on holiday in the Middle East. The Ghezireh Palace was built in 1869 to house visiting monarchs, later becoming a Wagon Lits property in 1894. The art director of Naples’ famed Richter printing operation, Borgoni was one of the leading Italian posterists of his generation.
Mexico Olympics, 1968, by Lance Wyman. This poster’s design was dually inspired by the native art of the Huichol and the Op Art style of the Sixties. The result is a fusion of the area’s rich native culture with the kaleidoscopic reality of contemporary Mexico. Wyman studied at the Pratt Institute and was inspired to specialize in logo design after coming into contact with the work of Paul Rand.
“It’s always interesting to pair posters of contrasting designs and imagery,” comments owner and poster expert Jim Lapides. “We’ve traveled the globe in search of these design masterpieces and it’s a treat to offer them to our Boston audience.”
In addition to gallery shows and special exhibitions, IPG’s award-winning website, www.InternationalPoster.com offers the largest, most comprehensive online collection of vintage advertising posters in the world. Originally launched in 1998, the site has undergone a recent renovation and now contains nearly 4,500 images accessible through a powerful search engine.
www.InternationalPoster.com
