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  • Original Art & Exhibition Posters

    Original Art & Exhibition Posters

    Art and exhibition posters by legendary artists such as David Hockney, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol occupy a fascinating and highly coveted niche in the world of fine art collecting. Unlike original paintings or sculptures, these posters were typically produced in limited runs to promote specific gallery shows, museum retrospectives, or cultural events often printed in editions of just a few hundred copies.

    Additionally, the artists themselves were often directly involved in the design process — Picasso contributed original lithographic compositions, Warhol brought his signature screen-printing aesthetic, and Hockney lent his vivid, painterly sensibility — elevating these works far beyond ordinary advertising material and into the realm of original art.

    At the heart of this world was the legendary Mourlot Imprimerie, founded by Fernand Mourlot in 1852, which became the premier lithographic workshop in Europe and worked closely with virtually every major artist of the twentieth century — from Picasso and Matisse to Braque and Miró. Mourlot’s master craftsmen possessed an extraordinary ability to translate an artist’s vision directly onto stone, and the posters they produced for exhibitions at iconic Parisian venues such as the Galerie Maeght, the Galerie Louise Leiris, and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs were printed in strictly limited numbers, intended primarily for display in the streets and galleries of Paris rather than for posterity.

     As awareness of the artistic and historical significance of original art and exhibition posters has grown among collectors and institutions, demand has dramatically outpaced supply, cementing their status as rare and desirable objects that command serious attention at auction and in specialist galleries worldwide. View our enire range of orignal art posters here

     

  • Andy Warhol Campbell’s Soup Cans

    Andy Warhol Campbell’s Soup Cans

    “I used to have the same lunch every day, for 20 years, the same thing over and over again…”

    Andy Warhol’s earlier work in advertising inspired him, and the Campbell’s Soup Cans in particular, symbolised mass-produced, print advertising. Mimicking the repetition and uniformity of advertising by carefully reproducing the same image across each individual canvas, he varied only the label on the front of each can. In 1962, the year in which Pop Art was established as the latest major artistic movement, Andy Warhol began his transition from hand-painted to photo-transferred art with a groundbreaking series of works. While these pieces mimicked a mechanical method of production, they were in fact hand-painted. The set of works was called simply Campbell’s Soup Cans, and would become one of the most iconic, signature pieces of his career.

    Searching for subjects for painting, it was a friend’s suggestion that he paint something everybody recognised, “like Campbell’s Soup”, which gave Warhol his subject. Projections of the cans were traced onto canvas and hand-painted, making this first and original ‘batch’ of soup cans a work which appeared more uniform and mechanically produced than it really was.

    Letitia Morris Gallery is pleased to present a collection of original silkscreen Campbell’s Soup Can posters, printed by Sunday B. Morning. These original silkscreen posters one of Andy Warhol’s most iconic works and a true summation of consumerism and counterculture. It is a deeper message in these works that goes beyond the simple soup can. It taps into a world of overconsumption, production, consumerism, and greed. On the surface, they may seem superficial, but it’s as if Warhol put up a mirror to the world.

    View Here

    Campbells Soup Can Andy Warhol Original Vintage Poster

  • Original Qantas Travel Posters by Harry Rogers

    Australian Qantas Original Posters!

    Qantas Travel posters

    Harry Rogers was one of the most important Australian graphic designers of the twentieth century, and his long partnership with Qantas gave us some of the most recognisable vintage travel posters ever produced in this country. From the early 1950s through to the mid 1980s he helped shape the airline’s visual identity, borrowed the clean logic of Swiss design, and created a much loved series of screen printed posters celebrating Qantas’ first flights around the world. The originals are now sought after by collectors for their craft, their optimism, and their place in Australian design history.

    New Guinea Qantas

    Who Was Harry Rogers

    Harry Rogers was born in 1929 and trained at East Sydney Technical College, a school that turned out a whole generation of gifted Australian commercial artists. He arrived at design by way of animation, and that background never really left him. You can see it in the way his posters seem to move. Figures are pared back to their essentials, colour carries much of the story, and every shape looks placed on purpose. Rogers knew how to catch a viewer’s eye and then lead it exactly where he wanted, which is the quiet skill that separates a memorable poster from one you walk straight past.

    Across a career that ran for more than three decades, he became one of the most respected designers working in Australia. Qantas was the thread that held much of that career together. In the mid 1960s he designed the airline’s logo font, and he kept coming back to the brand year after year, producing poster series from the early 1950s right through to 1985. Very few designers get to shape a single client’s public image for that long, and fewer still manage it with such a steady hand.

    The Swiss Influence

    To understand why the posters look the way they do, it helps to know what was happening in graphic design at the time. After the Second World War, a group of Swiss and German designers developed what became known as the International Typographic Style, or simply Swiss design. The idea was to strip communication back to what was essential. Out went fussy decoration and ornament. In came modular grids, generous white space, asymmetrical layouts and clean sans serif type.

    Rogers absorbed those principles and made them feel warm rather than clinical. He used the grid to bring order, then broke the symmetry to create energy. He leaned on a limited palette so that a single strong colour could do the work of a dozen. The result is design that reads clearly from across a room, which is exactly what a travel poster in a shop window or a ticketing office needed to do. Clarity was not a stylistic choice for him so much as a practical one.

    The Round the World Posters

    In 1958 Qantas became one of the first airlines in the world to offer a service that circled the globe, a genuine milestone for a national carrier from the other side of the planet. Rogers marked the occasion with a series of animal themed travel posters that have become some of his best known work. Each one was screen printed, and each carried a small Constellation aircraft tucked into the upper right corner, a neat signature that tied the series together.

    The destinations read like a map of postwar wanderlust. New Guinea, Singapore, Australia and Hawaii all featured, each rendered through a bold central motif rather than a literal photograph of a landmark. This was clever thinking. A single strong image invites the imagination in a way that a crowded travel snapshot never quite manages. The posters sold a feeling of adventure and possibility, which is really what air travel represented in those years.

    Why the Originals Are Worth Having

    There is a real difference between an original screen printed poster and a later reproduction, and collectors can usually spot it. Screen printing lays down ink in thick, even layers, so the colours have a depth and a slight texture that flat modern printing cannot copy. Hold an original in good light and you can see the craft in it. That physical quality, combined with the age and relative scarcity of surviving examples, is a large part of why these posters hold their value. If you plan to hang one, it is worth talking to the gallery about framing, which protects the paper and shows the design at its best.

    They also capture a specific moment. This was the era when flying still felt glamorous, when a trip overseas was an event to be dreamed about for months. Rogers understood that mood and designed for it. Owning one of his Qantas posters is a way of holding on to that optimism, and of owning a small piece of Australian design history at the same time.

    Where to See Them

    Letitia Morris Gallery holds a selection of original Harry Rogers Qantas travel posters, available to view and to purchase. The gallery is based in Melbourne at 1158 High Street, Armadale. If you have any affection for mid century design, or simply for the golden age of travel, they are well worth seeing in person, where the colour and the print quality really come to life. To check current availability or arrange a viewing, get in touch with the gallery.

     

     

  • Celebrating Melbourne Design Week with Vintage Posters

    Celebrating Melbourne Design Week with Vintage Posters

    ‘Georges Pompidou’ Jean Widmer

    “Widmer claimed a practice of basic design, grounded in reduction, coherence, and legibility. Every form, every colour, every proportion carried meaning.”

    – Centre Pompidou

    To celebrate design week in Melbourne, Letitia Morris Gallery have shortlisted our favourite graphic design posters which capture minimalism, colour and typography of the 60s & 70’s

    ‘Paris Construit’ – Jean Widmer

    For Jean Widmer, functionalism took precedence over decoration, characterised by reductive design and very simple forms. Born in 1929, Jean Widmer was a graphic designer based in Paris.  Jean Widmer was a French graphic designer celebrated for bringing clarity, structure, and modernist principles to visual communication in France during the second half of the twentieth century. Influenced by Swiss typography and minimalist design, Widmer became known for his clean use of grids, bold symbols, and strong visual identities, particularly in cultural and public institutions. His work often balanced simplicity with poetic visual impact, helping to modernise French graphic design through projects such as museum identities, posters, and national signage systems.

    Jean Widmer

    After World War II, designers in Switzerland and Germany pushed design into a cohesive movement called Swiss Design, or the International Typographic Style. These designers sought a neutral and objective approach; one that emphasised the subject by simplifying the images to a motif or simply a combination of colours. They constructed modular grids of horizontal and vertical lines and used them as a structure to emphasise elements in their designs. These designers preferred photography (another technical advance that drove the development of graphic design) as a source for imagery because of its machine-made precision. They created asymmetrical layouts, and they embraced the prewar designers’ preference for sans-serif typefaces. The elemental forms of the style possessed harmony and clarity.

    ‘PRISUNIC ETE 70’ by Friedemann Hauss 1970

    Friedemann Hauss was born in Germany and settled in Paris in 1967 after studying graphic art in Basel, Switzerland. Prisunic was a department store in Paris, and here we see “Summer 70”, a poster to advertise summer wear, 1970, which was exhibited in the street and in the subway. This poster received the prize for the most beautiful poster 1970.

     

     

  • Spotlight on Boris Bucan

    Boris Bucan

    Boris Bucan is one of Croatias most respected and highly regarded artists. His works offer the viewer an opportunity to experience a true master of poster art; often incorporating surrealist elements in his work, Bucan often uses colour and psychedelic patterning to attached the viewers attention.

    Born in 1947 Zagreb, Croatia, Bucan studied art, finally graduating in painting in 1972. During his study at the Academy of Plastic Arts, Bucan was introduced to the new art making technique of using photography, Polaroids, photocopies, film, video and graphic design. This new way of making art saw the shift from showing art in gallery spaces and instead gravitating towards public space as an act of resistance against the institutional infrastructure. Bucan first rose to prominence in Zagreb in the last 1960’s for his public art installations. Along with painting, Bucan maintained a prolific career as a graphic designer. This influence can be seen throughout his posters, especially in the posters Bucan designed for galleries, theatre, the Croatian Radio and Television, and National Theatre. This resulted in Bucan representing Yugoslavia at the Venice Biennale with a series of theatre posters.

    His works, often big and bold, is the sticking result of pushing the boundaries of what poster art and graphic design can be. Incorporating elements such as metallic gold, text which wraps around the edges of the poster and and contrasting colours, creates truly original and eye-catching posters. Letitia Morris Gallery has some of the most well known and sought after posters by Bucan. View our entire range here:

    View our entire range here:  Boris Bucan 

     

  • Alan Fletcher & IBM

    Alan Fletcher

    Alan Fletcher was one of the most important and most influential graphic designers to come out of Britain in the early 1960’s. His famous design for Pirelli would go on to revolutionise the British graphic design industry.

    Fletcher was born in Kenya in 1931 to a British family but moved to London at an early age. His creative talents would soon earn him a scholarship to Yale in America, where he was heavily influenced by American art and culture. After returning to London in 1960, Fletcher began consulting for clients like Time, Life, and Pirelli. His unique designs stood out for being totally original and eye-catching.

    “I try to solve their problems, but in solving their problems take an opportunity to find that extra twist that adds the magic.” The art posters he did for IBM are a good example of this. IBM asked him to design a placard for their new Paris headquarters, which said a painting would shortly arrive for the space on the wall occupied by the placard. In response he produced a series of posters interpreting the word “art” as defined by an author or artist, and added the line, ‘Quest for Quality: an IBM exhibition’ along the bottom of each poster. The artwork image for each poster was thoughtfully interpreted by Fletcher and in turn reflected his keen eye and sense of humour. Keeping each poster in greyscale and black and white unified the series thematically, each poster telling a unique story. By incorporating quotes by well-known figures such as F Scott Fitzgerald and Confucius to J.F. Kennedy, the posters remain universal as well as personal.

    View and our collection of Alan Fletcher IBM posters here:

    Marshall McLuhan Quest for Quality: an IBM exhibition - Alan Fletcher

    Marshall McLuhan Quest for Quality: an IBM exhibition – Alan Fletcher

    Emanuel Swedenborg Quest for Quality: an IBM exhibition - Alan Fletcher

    Emanuel Swedenborg Quest for Quality: an IBM exhibition – Alan Fletcher

    Jonathan Swift Quest for Quality: an IBM exhibition

    Jonathan Swift Quest for Quality: an IBM exhibition

     

  • Villemot Maquette

    Villemot Maquette

    Maquette is a French word meaning “sketch”, it is generally used to describe a preliminary drawing or designs of artworks or an artist concepts. Maquettes are generally intended to serve as rough models of larger designs. Architects make maquettes of their buildings, and sculptors often create maquettes in wax or clay to help them realise the final sculpture.

    In these maquettes by Villemot, we can see ideas forming around shape, colour, theme and design which are used in in his later finished works. These original gouache works are a a unique insight into the working mind of the artist. These works are in the not only rare but they offer a ‘behind the scenes’ look into some of the most well-known advertisements by Villemot known worldwide.

    Maquette is a French word meaning “sketch”, it is generally used to describe a preliminary drawing or designs of artworks or an artist concepts. Maquettes are generally intended to serve as rough models of larger designs. Architects make maquettes of their buildings, and sculptors often create maquettes in wax or clay to help them realise the final sculpture. In these maquettes by Villemot, we can see ideas forming around shape, colour, theme and design which are used in in his later finished works. These original gouache works are a a unique insight into the working mind of the artist. These works are in the not only rare but they offer a ‘behind the scenes’ look into some of the most well-known advertisements by Villemot known worldwide.

  • Keith Haring ‘Dolce Vita’

    Keith Haring ‘Dolce Vita’

    Keith Haring was an American artist best known for his street art and graffiti on the streets of New York in the 1980’s. Haring was a prominent figure in raising awareness to the AIDS epidemic and promoting safe sex education in the form of murals and posters. He was also instrumental in anti- drug campaigns by using his iconic imagery of faceless figures. Haring used rounded, curved patterning which made his designs seem non-authoritarian, friendly and educational. Many people often turned to Haring’s artwork for a sense of belonging and gay pride during heightened tensions around AIDS in the media.

    Haring created the design for the Dolce Vita nightclub in Switzerland, which was an alternative youth centre located in a former depot of a transport service. Dolce Vita was Lausanne’s rock-and-roll version of Studio 54. Dolce Vita in the 1980’s was one of the most popular clubs in Switzerland. The club culture was intrinsically linked to Harings’ work. His dancing figures and music notes often appearing in his designs. To capture the vibe of the place, Haring conjured these two wrestlers whose limbs create an abstract geometric form. The owners of the venue loved the design that they adopted his text as their official sign before closing in 1999.

  • Lichtenstein Moma 1989 Exhibition ‘I’d rather drown’

    Lichtenstein MoMa 1989 Exhibition ‘I’d rather drown’

    Lichtenstein Id Rather Drown MOMA poster original

    Lichtenstein Id Rather Drown MOMA poster original

    The “I’d Rather Drown” poster for MoMA is based on Roy Lichtenstein’s 1963 painting Drowning Girl, one of the most iconic works of Pop Art. The original painting, held in the Museum of Modern Art’s collection, depicts a woman submerged in turbulent water with the dramatic thought bubble, “I don’t care! I’d rather sink—than call Brad for help!” Inspired by romance comic book art, Lichtenstein used bold outlines, flat colors, and Ben-Day dots to mimic mass-produced printing while transforming it into high art. The MoMA poster, produced in the 1980s for a Lichtenstein retrospective, captures this powerful image and has become a sought-after collector’s piece. Often titled “I’d Rather Drown” after the painting’s dialogue, the poster embodies Lichtenstein’s witty commentary on love, drama, and the emotional depth hidden in pop culture imagery.

     

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