FOR POSTERITY
Vintage Posters from the Collections of
Juan Vazquez and Ted Eiseman
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Ringling Bros. Rhino Poster, 1945, signed Bill Baily, 116.5 x 79.5”
Jan. 27th through Feb. 13th
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HOURS: Mon. - Thurs. 8am - 6pm
during regular school sessions
The Taber Gallery is kicking off the Spring semester with a pop-up exhibition of vintage posters from the collection of Ted Eiseman and Juan Vazquez.
Juan Vazquez is a retired educator and longtime musician from Northampton, Mass. He has been collecting poster art for over 40 years. Ted Eiseman a visual artist, has been the proprietor of Funny Face Poster Restorations in Haydenville, Mass for 25 years. The two met about 4 years ago when Vazquez approached Eiseman about restoring some of the posters in his collection. The two hit it off and have since been working together on music projects and sharing their interest in vintage posters.
Some of this collection was shown at the Anchor House of Artists last year.
Vintage posters are a collectable art form that is available to almost everyone. Values vary but even very rare or collectible posters can be found in the $400.00 to $2,000.00 range. A poster is considered vintage if it is at least twenty-five years old and is an original advertising print.
Although printed public advertisements can be traced to the 15th century, the poster as it is understood today did not emerge until around 1860, given impetus by the invention of lithography, which allowed brilliantly colored posters to be produced cheaply and easily. Many of the poster artists went uncredited and remain anonymous, but there’s a cadre of well-known poster artists as well.
Early on posters were printed using a complicated process of stone or plate lithography but over time other printing techniques (photolithography, woodblocks, silkscreens, photo-offset) were used.
Because vintage posters were generally printed on low quality papers it’s important to preserve and protect them. In order to do this they are first bathed and then mounted on an archival paper which is pasted to linen. After that they may be restored or repaired. Ted Eiseman is a professional poster conservationist and in addition to linden backing the posters on display here, in some cases may have also touched up areas by matching paints, repairing tears or removing stains. It is unusual to find a pristine antique poster and collectors often need to have these repairs done.
The posters in this exhibition reflect each of the collectors thematic interests and tastes.
