1942 US government war poster.

Captain EO movie poster

A Poster is any large piece of paper which hangs from a wall or other such surface. They are a frequent tool of advertisers, propagandists, protestors and other groups trying to communicate a message, and they also see personal use by people, especially the young, who wish to decorate in a relatively low-cost manner.

Purely text posters have a long history: they advertised the plays of Shakespeare and made citizens aware of government proclamations for centuries.

The great revolution in posters was the development of colour lithography which allowed the cheap printing of posters illustrated in vibrant colours. The concept was first developed in France but by the 1890s had spread throughout Europe. A number of noted artists created poster art in this period, foremost amongst them Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Jules Chéret.

Many posters have had great artistic merit and have become extremely collectable. These include the posters advertising World's Fairs and Colonial Exhibitions. During the First and Second World Wars, recruiting posters became extremely common, and many of them have persisted in the national consciouness, such as the "Uncle Sam Wants You" posters from the United States, or the "Loose Lips Sink Ships" posters that warned of foreign spies.

Other times of great turmoil also produced great posters. The 1960s saw the rise of pop art and protest movements throughout the West; both made great use of posters. Perhaps the most acclaimed posters were those produced by French students during "les évenments" of May 1968.

The movie industry quickly discovered that vibrantly coloured posters were an easy way to sell their pictures. The collection of movie posters has become a major hobby.

See Also

• poster-poem
• Illustrations