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Vintage Garden Graphics: From Bloom to Harvest
August 9 – September 17, 2003
This exhibition of posters (never before displayed together) allows visitors a unique window into the ever-changing history of gardening and landscape design, viewed through poster art. All of the posters are original lithographic advertising pieces created for street postings and intended to last a few colorful weeks—these exceptions have survived thanks to printers and early collector enthusiasts. Posters are the advertising images of a gentler age, before the hectic pace of television and radio.
As the 20th century dawned, people outside the elite echelons of society began to have more leisure time. The middle class stopped viewing gardening as a necessary activity to produce food for the dinner table and began enjoying the simple sensual pleasures of the garden... the soil, the sun, and the beauty of the blooms. As interest surged in gardening for pleasure, railways and bus lines realized that increasing numbers of people were attending gardening shows and traveling purely with the intention of viewing public gardens and parks for their seasonal blooms. Accordingly, in addition to horticultural products, posters began advertising specific excursions, like Holland in bulb time, English gardens, and the famous Loire Valley chateau gardens.
In the United States, the interest in gardening as a leisure activity, along with a boom in agricultural products, led to a surge in the design of seed posters and advertisements for gardening magazines and books. Later, during World Wars I and II, the victory garden movement—the push for food conservation and production—also produced posters.
This exhibition of poster dealer Gail Chisholm's collection was prompted by her vast enthusiasm for all things horticultural, matched with her love for vintage posters, which she has been collecting for the past 25 years.
Chisholm Gallery Vintage Posters
