Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Ballyhoo!: Posters as Portraiture

Ballyhoo!: Posters as Portraiture

Reaves, Wendy Wick

Paperback

ArchitectsGeneral ArtGraphic Design

Publisher Price: $19.95

ISBN10: 0295988622
ISBN13: 9780295988627
Publisher: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Instit
Published: Dec 1 2008
Pages: 160
Weight: 0.98
Height: 0.45 Width: 6.60 Depth: 8.96
Language: English

Awarded the Washington DC Book Publishers' design and effectiveness competition Honorable Mention in the category of Illustrated Text from a Small- to Medium-Size Nonprofit Publisher and Third Prize in the category of Illustrated Jacket or Cover from a Small- to Medium-Size Nonprofit Publisher

Ballyhoo! looks at the poster as a form of popular portraiture. These celebrity likenesses are dramatic--and often enormous--but in fact, what a poster communicates about an individual is usually secondary to its principal message: Barnum and Bailey announcing the arrival of their circus, the Woodbury Soap company using Veronica Lake to promote its matched make-up, Greta Garbo advertising the Swedish version of Queen Christina, or Bette Midler publicizing her 1973 concert at the Palace Theater.

By interweaving the three themes of poster art, celebrity promotion, and advertising, Ballyhoo! suggests how a famous face can enhance the message of the poster and, conversely, how posters have defined and disseminated images of prominent Americans. Furthermore, posters provide an instructive glimpse of an era's prevailing ideals, prejudices, and presumptions.

These images remind us of the ubiquitous presence of portrait images outside the world of fine art. Widely disseminated forms of popular portraiture, like the poster, remain a profound influence in our culture.

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