The rise of Art Deco showcased through vintage posters at Sarasota Art Museum

SARASOTA, Fla. - Through 100 rare advertising posters, Sarasota Art Museum's "Art Deco: The Golden Age of Illustration" showcases the rise of the Art Deco artform in the 1920s. 

"These works were created all 100 years ago, they're so fresh. They are so contemporary. They are commercial, but at the same time, now looking at it, they are visual masterpieces," Sarasota Art Museum Senior Curator Rangsook Yoon said. 

The backstory:

Yoon defines Art Deco as the combination of ideas of fine art and commercial art. Much of the work features bright, bold colors and text, which in some ways set the standard for modern advertisements. 

"This time period was the rise of the mass consumer culture," Yoon said. "These posters were made to announce public services as well as all these different products that were in the consumer market."

Dig deeper:

Art collectors Bill and Elaine Crouse, who are loaning the posters to the museum, have been collecting Art Deco posters for 35 years. 

"In my early career, I was in advertising. These posters are iconic pieces of advertising," Bill Crouse said. "The fact that even though they're 85 or 105 years old, they look like they could have been produced yesterday."

Bill Crouse and his wife Elaine each have their different favorites. The museum pieces represent around a quarter of their personal collection. These posters were not meant to last, as they were printed and displayed in public spaces. 

"Many of the posters that we'll have on exhibition are the only known copies and have never been seen before," Elaine Crouse said. "I hope people understand that and that in and of itself would bring people into the museum."