The 1890s marked a dramatic shift in visual communication. Industrialisation brought mass production. Cities buzzed with nightlife, new consumer markets, and radical creative ideas. Into this world stepped a group of 1890s graphic design pioneers who didn’t just decorate – they designed. They shaped the emotional and aesthetic foundations of graphic design as we know it today.
Below, we explore four visionary figures whose work laid the groundwork for modern visual culture and what today’s designers, creatives, and brand-builders can still take from their work.
Jules Chéret - The Original Poster Boy
The father of the modern advertising poster and a rockstar of the 1890s Paris print scene.
Design Principle: Integration of Typography and Illustration
Who Was He?
Jules Chéret (1836–1932) was a French lithographer who transformed stiff, type-heavy announcements into exuberant visual feasts. Often dubbed the father of the modern poster, Chéret brought art to the streets and turned advertising into aesthetic experience.
He trained in lithography in London before returning to Paris, producing thousands of posters for theatres, cabarets, performers, and early consumer products.
What We Learn:
- He pioneered the fusion of image and type, placing text within dynamic compositions rather than below them.
- His use of vibrant colour lithography introduced bold, celebratory palettes into mass communication.
- His iconic “Chérettes” – independent, lively women – challenged passive Victorian tropes, foreshadowing the use of empowered personas in branding.
Legacy in Modern Design: Chéret’s work is a precursor to experiential branding. His posters invited participation and emotion – a masterclass in visual storytelling for anyone working in content design, outdoor media, or editorial graphics.
Alphonse Mucha - The Pioneer of Art Nouveau
The bohemian master who brought ornamental beauty and symbolic depth to the everyday image.
Design Principle:Ornament, Harmony, and the Symbolic Power of Form
Who Was He?
Apart from being one of my personal favourites, Alphonse Mucha (1860–1939) was a Czech artist and designer whose elegant poster work helped define the Art Nouveau movement. While he rose to fame in Paris in the 1890s – especially after his breakthrough poster for Sarah Bernhardt’s Gismonda – Mucha’s creative world extended far beyond commercial design.
He was deeply moved by the spiritual power of art, architecture, music, and ritual. His Paris studio resembled a chapel – incense, draped fabrics, and a harmonium included. He surrounded himself with symbolists, dramatists, and composers who believed art could elevate the soul.
What We Learn:
- Mucha’s visual language – graceful female figures, floral halos, and flowing lines – was rooted in aesthetic and symbolic meaning.
- His work drew from Catholic mysticism, Freemasonry, Theosophy, and Symbolist art – blending esoteric philosophy with public design.
- His decorative motifs weren’t just stylish – they carried ideas of divine femininity, idealised beauty, and nature as visual philosophy.
Legacy in Modern Design: Mucha showed that design can be atmospheric, layered, and emotionally resonant. His influence is still felt in brand aesthetics, wellness branding, spiritual identity design, and even tattoo culture. More than a stylist, he was a visual philosopher.
Ethel Reed - The Vanishing Visionary of American Design
A mysterious and rebellious figure who brought a haunting edge to poster art before disappearing from the scene.
Design Principle: Psychological Symbolism and Mood-Driven Visual Narrative
Who Was She?
Ethel Reed (1874–c.1912) was one of the first American female designers to gain national recognition in poster design and book illustration. A self-taught artist from Newburyport, Massachusetts, she rose quickly through Boston’s avant-garde circles in the 1890s. By the age of 22, her work had appeared in The Yellow Book, Harper’s, and on high-profile commissions for Copeland & Day.
More than just a designer, Reed cultivated a public persona – poised, stylish, and famously elusive. Her life was just as complex: she smoked, drank, used opium, and formed intense relationships that mirrored the emotional ambiguity of her work. Deeply influenced by the Decadent movement, French Symbolism, and artists like Aubrey Beardsley, she often walked the line between admiration and rejection of their ethos.
What We Learn:
- Reed blurred the line between innocence and subversion, placing childlike or spectral figures in dreamlike settings.
- Her use of white space, intimate framing, and decorative line work created moody, symbol-rich illustrations.
- Though she trained briefly at Cowles Art School, her work was deeply instinctive – improvisational, atmospheric, and emotionally potent.
Legacy in Modern Design:Reed helped carve out space for women in graphic design, long before that was common. Her influence lives on in indie publishing, feminist visual narratives, and the rise of moodboard aesthetics. Her work dares to disturb – a reminder that design can be a medium for emotional complexity.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - The Nightlife Chronicler of Montmartre
The truth-teller of the Belle Époque who captured the cabaret scene with raw elegance.
Design Principle:Flat Composition, Expressive Minimalism, and Observational Intimacy
Who Was He?
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) was a French painter, illustrator, and printmaker who documented the nightlife of 1890s Montmartre like no one else. Born into aristocracy but physically disabled, he chose to live among dancers, performers, and outsiders in the bohemian underworld of Paris.
He was both insider and observer, sketching life in cabarets like the Moulin Rouge, the Divan Japonais, and Le Mirliton. His subjects weren’t invented – they were friends, muses, lovers, and regulars. He saw them all, and he drew them all.
What We Learn:
- Inspired by Japanese ukiyo-e prints, Lautrec’s work featured flat colour, dynamic cropping, and bold outlines.
- He favoured personality over polish, capturing odd angles, expressive glances, and tired eyes with grace.
- His posters weren’t just promos – they reflected changing ideas around gender, class, and nightlife in a rapidly modernising city.
Legacy in Modern Design:Lautrec proved that print could tell real stories. His influence runs through flat design, expressive branding, street poster culture, and even social media visuals that prize authenticity over gloss. His message: don’t just show beauty – show life.
If these 1890s icons walked among us now… who would they be?
Designers or dreamers? Art directors or anarchists?
Maybe they’d be making zines, building brand worlds, or painting the streets with subversion and soul. One thing’s for sure: they’d still be making a scene.
Why the 1890s Still Matter in Design
The 1890s were more than a decade of aesthetic innovation – they were the start of modern graphic design as both art and communication.
This was a time of rebellion, beauty, and bold ideas. These artists didn’t follow trends – they set them. Their work reminds us that great design doesn’t just look good – it feels something, says something, and sometimes even shakes things up.