L’Affichomania: The Passion for French Posters by Jeannine Falino (review)

Reviews 189 l’indépendance, à assujettir les “non-Européens” à un tri catégoriel tributaire des techniques de surveillance mises au point, en temps de guerre, contre les FMA— “Français musulmans d’Algérie”. À la différence des travaux antérieurs de Colette Pétonnet, d’Abdelmalek Sayad ou de Marie-Christine Volovitch-Tavares, En finir avec les bidonvilles minimise à dessein l’axe anthropologique: il s’agit de la construction politique par le haut d’un problème social, où les associations d’entraide, chrétiennes ou associées à la Gauche prolétarienne, feront contrepoids. Paradoxe central de cet étonnant parcours des ségrégations: “c’est au moment où les immigrés, voués aux taudis et au logement précaire, accèdent au bon logement, au logement ordinaire, que leur place dans la ville fait problème et que ce problème devient un pôle de fixation de la xénophobie” (379). On saura gré à l’auteure d’avoir agrémenté d’illustrations et de coupures de presse d’époque un texte dense, attestant la médiatisation progressive du sujet, lequel retrouve son actualité dans l’accueil des Roms et gens du voyage. Johns Hopkins University (MD) Derek Schilling Falino, Jeannine. L’Affichomania: The Passion for French Posters. Chicago: UP of Chicago, 2017. ISBN 978-1-60402-000-7. Pp. 127. The catalogue of this exhibition is a refreshing presentation of those ubiquitous French posters from the last quarter of the nineteenth century, such as Steinlen’s Le Chat Noir and Toulouse-Lautrec’s Jane Avril series depicting entertainment in Montmartre in Paris. Presented by the Richard H. Driehaus Museum in Chicago, the posters represent thirty-five years of collecting on the part of the museum’s founder, who became a discerning art collector, inspired by his first acquisition of a work by Jules Chéret in the mid-1970s. The exhibition and book present forty-four posters by five of the best artists of the genre: Jules Chéret, claimed to be the father of the modern poster, Eugène Grasset, Théodore-Alexandre Steinlen,Alphonse Mucha, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. In his preface,“In Pursuit of the Grand Masters,”Driehaus recounts the story of his discovery of this genre. The posters are the foundation of his collection of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century decorative arts of Europe and America, which includes jewelry, furnishings, stained glass, sculptures, paintings, and other objets d’art. Driehaus highlights the special characteristics of some of his most beloved posters, including an analysis of the diversity of styles and the commercial and artistic nature of posters of this period. The book contains beautiful photos of Driehaus’s personal spaces, where some of these works are focal points. Curator Jeannine Falino’s more substantial introductory essay describes the technological, economic, and legal developments that converged to foster the development of this new form of advertisement and art, such as advances in color lithography, a new freedom of the press law, and changes in advertising techniques in the streets of Paris, notably the kiosks known as the Morris columns. Falino provides a succinct study of each artist, including the development of their careers and, most interestingly, particular characteristics and the influences that impacted their art. Falino also identifies the social and cultural phenomena related to poster mania of the time, such as the cabaret world and its performers, as well as the portrayal of women in fin-de-siècle posters. The essay provides an excellent context for the appreciation and understanding of the works on display. The true stars of this large-format book are the color reproductions of these forty-four posters. Most informative are the brief paragraphs alongside each image that place the work in context and explain the product or event advertised, the persons depicted, and the circumstances of the creation of the poster. These details motivate the reader to look closely at each image and to understand it in the context of the period. This book brings to life these advertisements and provides us with a newfound appreciation for their beauty and cultural importance. Texas Christian University Sharon L. Fairchild Fleming, Crystal Marie. Resurrecting Slavery...