The Modern Dutch Poster: The First Fifty Years, 1890-1940.

The 102 magnificently reproduced full-color posters in this book illustrate a little-known and individual body of graphic art, ranging from the richly decorative to the purely abstract, informed by art nouveau and symbolism, de Stijl and art deco, and expressing above all the vital connection between commerce and art.

The book accompanies the first exhibition devoted exclusively to the the modern Dutch poster and Marcel Franciscono's text provides a detailed and fascinating history of these neglected works. He considers the posters chronologically within the history of the modern movement, pointing out artists and works of special distinction - including some of the major figures of art nouveau (Jan Toorop, Johan Thorn Prikker, R. N. Roland Holst), some of the artists associated with de Stijl (Bart van der Leck and Piete Zwart) and Jan Sluyters, whose work is among the few fauve posters anywhere. Building on the relationship between text and image, Franciscono traces the changing styles of the posters and the qualities that distinguish them from those of other countries.

Each poster is illustrated in color and fully documented, including, whenever known, the facts of the poster's commission, execution, and printing. The text of the posters are printed in translation, and a special section provides brief biographies of the designers.

Stephen Prokopoff is Director of the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois. Marcel Franciscono is associate professor of Art History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Distributed by The MIT Press.