Poetics of the Poster: The Rhetoric of Image-Text

Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures

by David H.T. Scott

The unique collaborative relationship between text and image has allowed the once-humble poster to evolve distinctive strategies of persuasion that have transformed modern advertising. Closely related to contemporary developments in the visual arts—in particular Futurism and Art Deco—these advances also reflect the contemporary confluence between art and graphic design. Focusing on the innovative visual equivalents of conventional textual ways of communicating meaning—metaphor, metonymy, and rebus—Poetics of the Poster looks at how modern-day signage—from airline logos to tourism advertisements to boxing match announcements—wields maximum persuasive power over viewers.

119 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2011

About the author

David Scott holds a personal chair in French (Textual & Visual Studies) at Trinity College Dublin. He has written widely on literature, painting, semiotics and textual/ visual studies, and has organised many international exhibitions on arts and design. He was formerly curator of the Modern Art Collection, Trinity College Dublin (1977-92), a director of the Douglas Hyde Gallery (1979-91) and the organizer of Trinity College’s 1992 400th anniversary exhibition. His interests include gardens, travel and sport, especially athletics and boxing.