'Poster" means different things to different generations. For mine, it probably means Darth Vader, Farrah Fawcett and Knight Rider hanging limply from yellowed scotch tape on bedroom walls. To older generations, it may mean cinematic or travel subjects, or even black-light psychedelia.
Thankfully, for architect Robert G. Hill, it means architecture.
Since 1967, Mr. Hill has been obsessed with the power of the architectural poster, and has amassed a staggering private collection of more than 1,600 examples. In "Graphic Virtuosity: Architectural Posters from the Robert G. Hill Collection," on display at the University of Toronto's Eric Arthur Gallery, 75 posters represent topics as diverse as social housing, lecture tours, landscape architecture, exhibitions, individual careers, typography and the architectural drawing as vehicle for experimentation.
It might be the first exhibition of its kind, according to Mr. Hill, which means it may hit the road after closing on Dec. 8. "We've already had interest from both England and New York on picking up the exhibition in 2008 and 2009, so we're developing that," he says.
Top, a 1989 poster celebrates Russia’s constructivist movement. Middle, an announcement of a 1986 exhibit at the German Architecture Museum in Frankfurt. Bottom, the oldest poster in Mr. Hill’s collection, from 1968.
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The earliest poster on display is the one Mr. Hill says was the "real genesis" of his collection. Given to him by Dutch architect Herman Hertzberger while he was a visiting lecturer at U of T, it's a black and white poster from 1968 promoting an experimental housing project that was built in Delft in 1970.
"The conception that Herman has is that your house can be adapted to the way that you live. … There can be load-bearing and non-load-bearing areas that allow you to adjust the spaces for functions that you want. If you have a large car, great; if you have a small car, fine," he says, pointing to an illustration of a garage area with a movable wall. "If you have no car, turn that space into a small home office."
The poster is notable for its use of handwriting, too. Mr. Hertzberger asked for various written opinions on contemporary housing design from the people involved in the project and then used these as background elements. He also asked schoolchildren to write what they loved about houses, and incorporated these into a white circle in the poster's design.
Most striking, perhaps, are two posters from the 1980s. Vision der Moderne promotes a 1986 exhibit at the German Architecture Museum in Frankfurt. The poster uses the famous 1964 "Walking City" illustration by Ron Herron (of the avant-garde architectural group Archigram) to great effect.
"[The illustration has] become a landmark of architectural drawing because it's just an idea of a mechanical city which can move," Mr. Hill says. "[Archigram has] been so influential for a younger generation of architects from Future Systems, who are working today in England, to Cedric Price, to a number of other people."
The second poster, Arkitektur i Sovjetunionen 1917-1987, from Stockholm's architecture museum, promotes a 1989 exhibition celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Russian constructivist movement. Bold in tones of black, white, red and blue, the poster is dominated by two large "X" shapes, which on closer inspection turn out to be "a student design scheme done in 1928 for a portion of a spa done on the Black Sea," Mr. Hill says. Pointing to the four long dining tables drawn within one of the Xs, he adds: "So everyone sat at one table; there's no hierarchy in the constructivist movement, this is architecture as social condenser."
Also fascinating are designs that use typography alone to convey their message. Here is one art form, typography, representing another, architecture, that usually requires photography or illustration to communicate its message. "That intrigues me very much," Mr. Hill says.
Contemporary architects Zaha Hadid and Richard Meier are represented, and so are Canadians. A 1991 University of Waterloo school of architecture exhibit, "Parkin: The Formation of Toronto Modernism," and a U of T exhibit, "For the Record: Ontario Women Graduates in Architecture 1920-1960," from 1986, are interesting, as are reminders of the Canadian influence stateside: One promotes a 1999 Cornell lecture series by the current U of T architecture dean, George Baird; the other, "Northern Lights — New Architecture from Canada," hails from Rice University in Houston (1997).
Pointing to oversized posters produced for bus shelters in Bordeaux, France — with sole aim of celebrating architecture as an art form — Mr. Hill asks, rhetorically: "When was the last time you saw an architectural poster in a bus shelter here in Toronto?"
Despite this lack of vision for public enlightenment (or perhaps because of it), Mr. Hill and co-curator Larry Wayne Richard's exhibit is a welcome first step toward a long-overdue celebration. It's also a reminder that, even in the 21st century, posters can still be an effective means of communication.
"The art of poster-making is alive and well," Mr. Hill says. "It's an art form that continues to be used and it still has relevance in this digital age."
Graphic Virtuosity runs until Dec. 8 at the University of Toronto's Eric Arthur Gallery, 230 College St. It's open to the general public Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free.
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