Poster for Exhibition of Artistic Posters of Wilhelm Söborg c. 1895

Curator: This is a poster by Paul Fischer, created around 1895 for an exhibition of artistic posters by Wilhelm Söborg. Editor: It strikes me as rather witty. The sharp lines and caricatured figures make it feel like a wry commentary on the art world of the time. Almost like a stage set with a shallow depth of field. Curator: Indeed. The lithographic process employed allows for crisp lines and distinct color separations, emphasizing the poster’s function as advertising. We see a gathering, presumably an audience, set against what we might infer as the exhibition space. What elements in the staging feel relevant to the art world? Editor: Definitely the juxtaposition of the dapper gentleman reading the poster in the foreground versus the somewhat stiff and aloof figures in the background. The yellow and white stripes in his trousers jump out as he occupies the most fashionable, "knowing" place in the room, reading all about "Reklame Plakater" posters, and advertising itself. Almost theatrical, don't you think? Curator: The figures in the background certainly speak to the social context of art production and consumption. Note their attire—top hats and formal wear—marking them as part of the bourgeois elite, who would both be producing and commissioning such works. The address 36 Fiolstrede is, materially, embedding this poster in a precise geographic locale. Editor: Fiolstrede! Ah, the scent of ink and artistic aspiration hangs in the air. To me, it feels as though the artist is playfully acknowledging the commodification of art while simultaneously inviting us to join the spectacle. Almost a challenge to question where art ends and commerce begins. Curator: And consider how this challenges high art traditions! A poster for an exhibition of posters acknowledges the value of something produced in service to marketing as something artistic itself. Editor: Thinking about it that way changes things. The gentleman’s striped trousers… suddenly they feel more defiant than dapper, disrupting any conventional reading with their vividness and eccentricity. What does the image, at scale, promise to people as it does the same in the urban landscape? Curator: That tension, between artistry and commerce, remains potent. It provokes questions about the role of art in society, even today. Editor: A little poster, sparking rather large thoughts! It almost makes me want to hunt down those striped trousers... or maybe just create a poster of my own!