Vintage Posters!

April 2, 2010 3:39 PM

Here's some gorgeous vintage posters.
posted by loquacious (17 comments total)

German can make anything seem menacing. For example: Kunsthandwerk apparently means "Crafts" and the cover text talks about "Ausstelung im landsgewerbeamt," which is translated as "Exhibits in the Regional Trade." Are black holes the thing of regional craftsmen? Do pits of despair fall under the category of "crafts" in Germany?

Googling "1966 crafts" result 1: dopey looking dolls and other doodaws, not a shred of menace. Result #2: 1966 Batman Message Board. Not menacing, just a lot of retro fans (a LOT of them, and all very detail-oriented). Then a bunch of old boat aficionados and some felt crafts information. But nothing about burrowing holes into eternity. At least that's the message I'm getting from the cover of Kunsthandwerk 1966.

All the same, thanks for the vintage designs!
posted by filthy light thief at 3:54 PM on April 2, 2010 [3 favorites]

Does what it says on the tin.
posted by The Whelk at 3:58 PM on April 2, 2010

It does indeed. These are great.
posted by brundlefly at 4:03 PM on April 2, 2010

German can make anything seem menacing. For example: Kunsthandwerk apparently means "Crafts" and the cover text talks about "Ausstelung im landsgewerbeamt," which is translated as "Exhibits in the Regional Trade."

Or this one for "exhibition of modern carpenter workshop"
posted by delmoi at 4:13 PM on April 2, 2010

The url is misleading. I was expecting something more like this.
posted by demiurge at 4:13 PM on April 2, 2010

I liked this one, and it really didn't need any text on it, I still would've understood it.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 4:35 PM on April 2, 2010

Or this one for "exhibition of modern carpenter workshop"
posted by delmoi

Ummm, I think you've mistranslated, that one is for the Ravenholm Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Information Office.
posted by Keith Talent at 4:36 PM on April 2, 2010 [5 favorites]

There's some sweet, sweet typography going on there. Much thanks!
posted by Thorzdad at 4:44 PM on April 2, 2010

Nice!
posted by klangklangston at 4:52 PM on April 2, 2010

Passed along to my designy friends. thanks.
posted by device55 at 5:59 PM on April 2, 2010

Good one! Thanks!
posted by rmmcclay at 10:40 PM on April 2, 2010

These are awesome. I wish they were available in higher res !
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 6:35 AM on April 3, 2010

Maybe I'm just an uncultured barbarian, but I think most of these are hideously drab. Can someone who knows about graphic design put these in some context, maybe explain why they're interesting compared to these or these or these?
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 2:40 PM on April 3, 2010

qxntpqbbbqxl: They're definitely better; my artometer is reading a 9.6 for these, while your examples are in the 4-5 range.

No, but the beauty of this style of art lies in color choice, great typography, and precise composition, I'd say.
posted by tmcw at 5:55 PM on April 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm with qxntpqbbbqxl. Cold, uninspiring and depressing, however interesting for their venue. I immediately wanted to pound on concrete and eat borscht. Nice find though, loquacious.
posted by ~Sushma~ at 7:21 PM on April 4, 2010

Really? Cold, uninspiring and depressing? There's a lot of life and movement in that composition.

A lot of this is minimalist, but arguing against perfectly hand-set lines because you don't like minimalism is kind of your problem, not the art's—posters like this do a hell of a lot compositionally without using very much. It's kind of like complaining that Metafilter doesn't look like MySpace.
posted by klangklangston at 9:10 PM on April 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

A great book for puttig this into context: "Graphic style : from Victorian to post-modern" by Steven Heller, ISBN 0810910330. The "post-modern" stuff lacks critical distance, but for drawing a straight line from Deco through New Typography and mid-century Modernism, it's pretty on point (and has a bunch of great poster work from around the world throughout modernity).
posted by klangklangston at 10:34 PM on April 4, 2010