contents
    Summer 2002,
vol. 44, No. 1/2
 
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Top: Old posters attest to visits to Lebanon by famous artists and groups
Bottom: Another view of the exhibit
  AUB Collection of Art Posters in Lebanon    
  -      The AUB collection of 181 art posters dates from the early 1960s to the late twentieth century. Although the posters mainly announce individual painting and sculpture exhibitions, the collection includes group and theme art exhibits, plays and musical recitals, movies, conferences and environmental awareness.
      Art in Lebanon got a quick start in the mid-sixties with the multiplication of art exhibitions in Beirut. The poster was a sign of prestige for the gallery, and was regarded as a required instrument of promotion for the exhibit and the artist, despite its limited exposure.
      Poster production continued during the eighties despite the war and the reduced number of galleries, but began to disappear in the nineties when gallery goers, who were mainly in Ras Beirut, had moved to different parts of the country.
      The art poster in Lebanon reflected the widespread trend of the same movement in Paris which came about with the flourishing of the art market in the fifties, and with the growth of the Paris School of painting after World War One.
      Art poster production evolved during the last four decades but conformed basically to its original principles as to format, composition, lettering, coloring, paper and printing.
      Theater and cinema posters were the forerunners of the art posters in the fifties, cluttering the surface with a lot of information. Printing was in one or two colors, on cheap, often colored paper. Probably all the posters of the plays that Antoine Kerbaj acted in between 1972 and 1998 are included in the collection.
      The format of the art poster was a rectangle of a variety of sizes, measuring about 40 x 70 cm. They were rarely square in shape. Larger sizes were produced by the Sursok Museum, Platform Gallery 		posters of Hussein Madi's exhibitions and posters of the environmental protection societies.
      The art poster consisted of four elements: a picture of an art piece, the name of the artist, date of opening and duration of the exhibit, as well as the name of the gallery and its address. These elements were often kept separate on a colored background.
      The pictorial element, which was a reproduction of a work by the artist, had a prominent and well defined space. The picture was selected for effectiveness. The lettering was always concise, giving prominence to the name of the artist. Upper case bold lettering was used for the artist, middle size for the name of the gallery, and lower case for other details. Lettering was often separate from the pictorial element for visual effectiveness, and thin lines and lettering were avoided as the poster was viewed one to two meters away by passers-by. Very few posters were bilingual.
      Art posters used simple, restricted color schemes, clear and charming, without gradations and play on tonality. The graphic work was neat and clear and tended to keep the same layout in each gallery.Art posters were produced by art galleries and cultural centers to announce exhibitions to the public. They were oriented towards the educated elite to emphasize the artistic event. It was a useful, aesthetically attractive means of advertising an event through brevity and concise communication. However, its effectiveness was limited by its display space in shops.
      The art poster acquired an esthetic value; quality was often emphasized in the selection of paper, design and printing. Thus it attracted collectors and became an important element in decorating young peoples' quarters who were drawn to the commercial poster when the free art poster was not available.Cesar Nammour

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