A retrospective night at Bruun Rasmussen's

Throughout the ages, posters have been used as an especially visual form of communication for the presentation of messages to the masses. The subjects have been very diverse. Posters have been used for political propaganda or the presentation of new artistic currents and specific works, but also for more commercial purposes such as advertisement for new products on the market. The distinguishing characteristic of the poster is that it is artistic in its form, but has a concrete message for its subject. This is why posters have been able to bridge the gap between, say, politics and art or the commercial and the artistic.

The history of the poster

The art of the poster has a long prehistory, but it was revolutionized in the period from the middle of the 19th century to the early 20th century. This is no coincidence, since the modern poster is very much a result of the industrialization that took place in these years. The invention of new printing techniques that were able to combine writing and image, and the appearance of a commercial life of business and communication, formed the basis for the strong development in the art of the poster in this period.

Because of their highly diverse subjects, posters are of great cultural-historical value. They bear witness of the political, artistic and commercial history of the various countries. Also, posters have become collector’s items all over the world, because of their often outstanding artistic quality.

Posters at Bruun Rasmussen

In spite of the high artistic quality that characterise many posters, the art of the poster has, for a long time, been overlooked in Denmark, but luckily the thousands of collectors all over the world have helped preserve this particular form of human expression. About 10,000 Danish and foreign posters have now been acquired by Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers of Fine Art, and they are to be sold at an auction held August 29th. These posters are of every size and variety, and their subjects include everything from Danish erotic movies to commercials for French and Russian airlines. Every single one of these posters has a story to tell us – about events, movies, art or merely the new inventions in everyday-life. At the auction the posters will be divided into categories by subject such as: Westerns, Danish movies, foreign movies, commercials etc.

Auction: August 29th 2006
Preview: August 21st -29th (Havnen, Amerika Plads 11, 2100 Copenhagen)