Posters
The library collections include some 12 000 posters. The material is mainly Swedish, and dates from the early 19th century to 2000. A limited number of the posters are from other countries.
About the collection
The posters come from, among others, various Gothenburg theatres, market entertainment acts and circuses, many of them from the 19th century. A large portion of the prints are probably unique, and likely only found here. The collection does not grow - from the year 2000, nothing new is added to it.
Perhaps the most important Swedish poster artist of the first half of the 20th century was Eric Rohman, the artist behind about 7 000 posters. He is obviously represented in the library's collection, with two examples below: Blekansiktet and Adams Revben. Rohman began as a poster artist around 1915 and swiftly established himself as the country's perhaps foremost artist in his niche. Throughout the next few decades, he was constantly in demand, not least within the film industry.
Other posters in the collection provide examples of entertainment in Gothenburg from the first half of the 19th century. Travelling groups of artists and acrobats featured here, along with a considerable number of acts involving exotic and trained animals. Other regularly recurring features of entertainment were experiments within popular science and demonstrations of mechanical machines, as well as various forms of artisanal craft, such as glassblowing.
The poster collection is divided into the following categories:
- Circus
- Film
- Referendum votes
- Art
- Music
- Fairs
- Nobel prizes
- Temperance
- Organisations, associations and societies
- Politics
- Advertising
- Sports
- Theatre
- Education
- Foreign posters
- Exhibitions
- Charity
Access the collection
The collection is not yet catalogued and cannot be browsed digitally.
The information desk at the Humanities library has an inventory of posters and instructions for how to request them for viewing in our reading room.
Humanities library
Renströmsgatan 4
405 30 GOTHENBURG
Phone: 031-786 17 45
Text:
Anders Strinnholm
Read more
Eriksson, Johan & Sandahl, Christoffer, Reklam i rörelse: en nostalgisk resa med folkhemmets affischer, Trafik-nostalgiska förl., Stockholm, 2004.
Halldin, Olof, Svenska affischer: affischkonst 1895-1960, Ordalaget, Bromma, 2012.
Kungliga biblioteket, I blickfånget: likheter och motsatser i svensk affischtradition, Kungl. bibl., Stockholm, 1999.
Paul Lipschutz Poster Collection, Affischen i Sverige: 230 affischer från 100 år : Paul Lipschutz samling, Sveriges radio, Stockholm, 2000.
Suggested research topics
- An overview of the collection's contents. What is represented here, and how does it mirror the time and context of the material?
- Biographical research
- Changes in political propaganda and communication over time.
- Advertising and design.
- Historical entertainment, theatres and more in 19th century Gothenburg.
- Presentation and depiction of foreign films in Sweden, in images and translation.
- Swedish movie posters in the history of art.
Please contact us if you have any suggested research topics you would like to share!