‘Image-Promise’: Countries of the East on advertising posters

Abstract

The article examines the special form of printed graphics: the advertising poster for tourism, whose task is to create a certain “image of the country” and to shape demand for certain tourist routes. This product became a companion to the development of the tourism industry itself, and with the release of such packages as “traveling to the East,” a separate group of advertising posters appeared that had all the advantages of high graphics of the epochs of Art Nouveau and Art Deco. However, representations in “eastern routes” posters developed their own techniques that were different from those of European destinations. First, in advertisements for Mediterranean destinations, the subject (image of the traveler) was replaced by the object (image of the country), which was positioned with the help of “visual brands” - monuments uniquely associated with a specific place. Artists in the first third of the 20th century created a number of graphic techniques for the catchy and recognizable “demonstration” of the East - the selection of “visual brands,” a special organization of composition, lighting, and imaginative structure of posters that created a “waiting effect” for potential tourists in accordance with advertising objectives. A separate reception was the stylized use of elements of the traditional artistic language of the “advertised” country. The article highlights the emergence of the “oriental” advertising poster as an art product, marks characteristic artistic tricks, and draws attention to the transformation of some works into independent visual brands that are becoming the subject of contemporary vintage stylizations.