Now through August 18 at The Taft Museum of Art, “Magic & Melodrama: Cincinnati Posters from the Gilded Age” You will see vividly colored large format posters advertising favorites such as ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Peter Pan’, to name a few. In total there are seven theater posters on loan from the collection of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. According to the museum, “At the turn of the 20th century, traveling actors, illusionists, and theatrical producers promoted live performances with brilliantly colored printed outdoor advertisements. These pictured magic tricks, fantastic battles, heartbreaking scenes, and grand dance numbers, among many other images.” The posters were created in Cincinnati by Strobridge Company with cutting edge (for the time) color lithography on steam-powered presses. Thanks to those techniques Strobridge Company became the leader in international entertainment advertising. The Taft Museum of Art is located at 316 Pike St., downtown. www.taftmuseum.org.
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