A small and unassuming book in grey printed boards fell open on my desk today, XIXth Century French Posters by James Laver (Nicholas & Watson, London: 1944), and I wonder if, in 1944 when it was published, it might have been one of the first to recognise the merit of 19th century French posters as artwork, long before Toulouse-Lautrec was up on every student's wall in the 80s and 90s. These three images are the only colour reproductions in the book by (from top to bottom on this page), Jules Chéret, L. Anquetin and Théophile Steinlen. The first of those has been, according to his Wiki page been described as "The Father of the Modern Poster" and there are certainly many more examples on that page worth having a nose around. Steinlen has a whole website dedicated to him where you can view works in all the mediums he utilised.
