American illustrator Coles Phillips became famous in 1908 for his "Fade-Away Girl" magazine covers, which caught the eye and saved money on color printing. He was a leader in creating "more modern, active and athletic images of women" after the prim poise of the Gibson Girl era. His later work became more overtly sexual, making him one of the first artists whose beautifully designed ads were "torn out of magazines and swiped out of store windows to become pin-ups on college dormitory walls." Some were considered scandalous. He died in 1927. Two long pages of Coles Phillips images. Six pages. Bio. Tumblr tag. More ads.
posted by mediareport on Mar 4, 2012 - 33 comments

Minimal Movie Posters [more inside]
posted by zarq on May 1, 2011 - 38 comments

Mad Men: Soviet Style. Beautiful advertising posters from the USSR.
posted by grumblebee on Nov 4, 2009 - 54 comments

Gun for the whole family. A Scanning Around With Gene article about historic gun ads. More fun with Gene Gable: Cigarettes, diving, winter fonts, red white and blue, and so much more.
posted by klangklangston on Jan 10, 2008 - 12 comments

drawnline: The commercial and personal work of Andrew Bell.
posted by gwint on Oct 14, 2007 - 4 comments

Light Criticism is the newest project by Graffiti Research Lab and the Anti-Advertising Agency.
posted by fandango_matt on Jan 25, 2007 - 23 comments

Advertising in India (thanks to this post by NickySkye) More ads here and here
posted by hadjiboy on Jan 24, 2007 - 12 comments

Artist Dan Bergeron likes to muck around with billboard adverts. His recent doctoring of a billboard featuring Bush in Toronto has earned him some press in the Globe and Mail.
posted by chunking express on Aug 11, 2006 - 43 comments

Post No Bills. At the intersection of life and advertising one may unexpectedly find art, or at least humor. Henry Ho shines a light on it. (42 pages. Or view all thumbnails together)
posted by taz on Jul 29, 2005 - 15 comments

SA VIGNAC. Welcome to the world of Raymond Savignac, the greatest poster artist of all time, and inventor of the little Bic man. Joyous, naughty, simple, elegant, and beautiful.
posted by Sticherbeast on Dec 7, 2004 - 4 comments

The Advertising Artwork of Dr. Seuss.
posted by hama7 on Jun 23, 2004 - 8 comments

Graphic Design from the 1920s and 1930s in Travel Ephemera . Amazing collection of posters, road maps, steamship and airline timetables, (more timetables here), post cards, luggage labels (more labels here and here), brochures and more. Seeing this stuff makes me wish I had been born seventy-five years earlier (and with an obscene amount of money.) (Warning: the site is seriously painful to look at, but the content's good. Link via Coudal.)
posted by Vidiot on Mar 19, 2003 - 10 comments

The Art of M. Wartella. His work has been featured on magazine covers and other indie zines. Follow the adventures of Dinky Dog (QT recommended) created by "November Jones, the poor Hungarian surplus lard salesman who invented the "Dinky Dog" character in 1914." Or "Make a hacker out of a slacker".
posted by KevinSkomsvold on Jun 21, 2002 - 5 comments

Polish movie posters. The Polish Poster Gallery has a fascinating collection of artist renditions of american movie posters. The collection compares favorably with the 50 Greatest Movie Posters, as listed by Premiere magazine.
(via fark)
posted by patrickje on May 16, 2002 - 8 comments