Will H. Bradley, one of the first Americans to produce posters, exerted a major influence on that art form in the United States.
Bradley completed this art nouveau-inspired lithograph The Chap-Book (The Blue Lady) in 1894.
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Poster Pioneer
Will H. Bradley, one of the first Americans to produce posters, exerted a major influence on that art form in the United States.
Bradley completed this art nouveau-inspired lithograph The Chap-Book (The Blue Lady) in 1894.
Many posters are printed using a technique known as offset lithography. Lithography is based on the principle that oil and water do not mix. Using oil-based ink or a grease crayon, an image is drawn on a flat stone or metal plate. Next, water is applied to the surface and is repelled by the areas where oil-based images have been drawn. The entire surface is then coated with an oil-based ink that adheres only to the areas drawn in oil, ink, or crayon. The image is then printed on paper. The popularity of this process grew because thousands of exact replicas could be made that were like drawings on paper, without degradation of the image.
Learn more about the printing process in the How To section of our online exhibition Posters American Style.
Source: Posters: American Style (Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art, 1999) at http://americanart.si.edu/collections/exhibits/posters/index.html.
Pictured: Will H. Bradley, 1968–1962, The Chap-Book (The Blue Lady), 1894, color process lithograph on paper, 18 3/8 x 12 1/2 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum acquisition.