Faite Gratuitement Par Le Bon Génie 1881

This advertisement, by Jules Chéret, was printed using lithography, a newly industrialized process at the time. A design is drawn on a flat stone or metal plate with a greasy crayon, then chemically treated so that only the drawn areas will hold ink. Lithography allowed for inexpensive, mass production of colorful posters like this. The vivid reds and blues you see here wouldn't have been possible on such a scale before. It democratized image-making, but also created new opportunities for advertisers. Consider the labor involved. An artist like Chéret would create the original design, but skilled printers and machine operators would be needed to produce thousands of copies. This reflects a shift towards industrialized image production, separating the artistic conception from the means of making. Seeing this poster reminds us that art and commerce have always been intertwined. Understanding the material processes and social context allows us to see it not just as an image, but as a product of its time.