Queen City Print Inks Vintage Poster Prints

The Queen City Printing Inks promotional posters are a remarkable discovery in the history of American commercial art. Produced from 1863 onwards to advertise the printing inks of the Queen City company, these posters were illustrated by Augustus Jansson — an artist whose work combines the ornate visual language of the gilded age with genuine graphic sophistication.

Augustus Jansson and Queen City

Jansson's posters for Queen City Printing Inks had a double purpose: to advertise the company's inks, and to demonstrate their quality. The extraordinary colour and detail of each poster was itself an advertisement for what the inks could achieve. The result is promotional art that transcends its commercial purpose entirely — these are works of art that happen to have been made to sell printing inks.

Visual Character

The Queen City posters are characterised by:

• Vibrant, saturated colour — demonstrating the full range and quality of the printing inks through chromolithography at its finest.
• Stylised figural illustration — characters in elaborately stylised costumes and poses from global traditions.
• Ornate decorative borders and typography — the gilded age graphic tradition at its most elaborate and beautiful.
• The quality of 19th century American commercial printing — a high point of chromolithographic achievement.

Sizes and Framing

Queen City Printing Inks vintage poster prints are available in seven sizes from 21x30cm to 100x150cm, framed or unframed. All produced on 230gsm matte art paper with archival inks.

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