Beggarstaffs posters
James Pryde and William Nicholson’s flat silhouettes of cut paper – the poster reduced to shape and patch.
Under the name J. & W. Beggarstaff the brothers-in-law Pryde and Nicholson made posters between 1894 and 1899. They cut the shapes out of paper and let large empty areas carry the image.
They had few commissions and little commercial success, but the style influenced poster art in Germany and the rest of Europe, not least the Sachplakat.
Materials: Colour print on paper, after cut-paper designs
Manufacture: The designs were made of paper cut and pasted; the posters were then printed in few colours.
Large flat areas of colour without outlines.
Figures that appear through the silhouette; the background fills in the rest.
Very little text, often hand-drawn.