Posters: A Global History - Softcover

Guffey, Elizabeth E

Softcover

ISBN 10: 178023371X ISBN 13: 9781780233710

Publisher: Reaktion Books, 2014

Synopsis

Posters

About this title

Review:

Guffey s goal is to tell the story of posters as things physical, commodifiable, and transportable objects that materialize the increasingly immaterial nature of visual communication. She traces how posters have moved through the life of the world on their ephemeral paper substrates. . . . She grapples admirably with the ambition of her study, uses smart examples, draws on a diverse bibliography, takes her time when the material demands it, and convinces her readers that examining the public lives of posters broadens and enriches our understanding of the medium. --Jill Bugajski "Art in Print ""

This exciting new study of the social life of posters demonstrates the many uses to which they have been put and shows that the ever-popular medium, far from being defunct, continues to be a vital form of communication and expression. Guffey s colourfully written account also benefits from numerous well-chosen pictures of posters seen in everyday settings alongside the viewers who admired them, took their cues from, them and consumed them as informal art.
--Rick Poynor, founder of Eye magazine and cofounder of Design Observer"

Guffey rescues the poster from its well-meaning but largely fetishized history by connoisseurs, curators, and collectors and compellingly chronicles the past, present, and future lives of this staple of communication. Taking an expansive view of the subject, Guffey reaches far and wide and across the ages for her examples and provides a much-needed cultural context to the diverse roles posters perform in a society whether connecting communities, building nationalism, inciting consumption, or raising awareness.Posters: A Global Historyis an important addition to design history and a timely reminder of the power of print in the age of the Internet.
--Andrew Blauvelt, Senior Curator, Architecture and Design, Walker Art Center"

"This exciting new study of the social life of posters demonstrates the many uses to which they have been put and shows that the ever-popular medium, far from being defunct, continues to be a vital form of communication and expression. Guffey's colourfully written account also benefits from numerous well-chosen pictures of posters seen in everyday settings alongside the viewers who admired them, took their cues from, them and consumed them as informal art."
--Rick Poynor, founder of Eye magazine and cofounder of Design Observer

"Guffey rescues the poster from its well-meaning but largely fetishized history by connoisseurs, curators, and collectors and compellingly chronicles the past, present, and future lives of this staple of communication. Taking an expansive view of the subject, Guffey reaches far and wide and across the ages for her examples and provides a much-needed cultural context to the diverse roles posters perform in a society--whether connecting communities, building nationalism, inciting consumption, or raising awareness. Posters: A Global History is an important addition to design history and a timely reminder of the power of print in the age of the Internet."
--Andrew Blauvelt, Senior Curator, Architecture and Design, Walker Art Center

"Guffey's goal is to tell the story of 'posters as things'--physical, commodifiable, and transportable objects that 'materialize the increasingly immaterial nature of visual communication.' She traces how posters have moved through the life of the world on their ephemeral paper substrates. . . . She grapples admirably with the ambition of her study, uses smart examples, draws on a diverse bibliography, takes her time when the material demands it, and convinces her readers that examining the public lives of posters broadens and enriches our understanding of the medium."--Jill Bugajski "Art in Print "

About the Author:

Elizabeth E. Guffey is Professor of Art and Design History at the State University of New York, Purchase, and founding editor of academic journal Design and Culture. She is the author of Retro: The Culture of Revival (Reaktion, 2006).

About this edition

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 178023371X
• ISBN 13: 9781780233710
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288