Exterior view of the exhibition Røyk at Grafill

Exterior view of the exhibition Røyk at Grafill. Photograph: Jørn Aagaard.

Røyk (Smoke)

Røyk brings together one hundred Norwegian posters from 1886 to 1938.

Poster display in the exhibition Røyk

Poster display in the exhibition Røyk. Photograph: Jørn Aagaard.

Its motifs come from what was in the street: butter and soap, beer and tobacco, Ibsen and fairs, toothpaste, skiing, and holidays in Norway. They were made to catch the eye and leave an impression.

In Norway, poster-making was not yet one settled field, but a task many took on and solved in their own way. People came to it from painting and drawing, architecture and the applied arts, sculpture and theatre.

Installation view of the exhibition Røyk showing poster displays and tables

Installation view of the exhibition Røyk showing poster displays and tables. Photograph: Jørn Aagaard.

That leaves its mark on the work. These posters are more drawn, more narrative, and often stranger than what we now expect a poster to be. Thorolf Holmboe and Christian Koren-Wiberg can be both pattern-driven and figurative, dense on the surface and still clear in the result. Per Krohg is light on his feet and entirely his own, as if he is teasing the poster format while still keeping faith with it. Otto von Hanno comes out of the theatre, and can both set a scene and open up a landscape.

Alf Ellingsen lets the product fill the surface and builds the poster around it. Edvard Munch promotes his exhibitions and lets the drawing take the lead. Harald Damsleth can be sharp and strange at the same time, setting a clear mood and giving the product life. Same surface, but not the same errand.

Table display with reproduced posters in the exhibition Røyk

Table display with reproduced posters in the exhibition Røyk. Photograph: Jørn Aagaard.

This was a time when few agreed on what a poster should look like. It was free, for better and worse, and perhaps often both at once. In Røyk, the exhibition turns to what remains from that period, a trace of something that was once new. Smoke is both the thing itself and what lingers after it. In those traces, there is still something for us, perhaps right where it catches.

A publication featuring all one hundred posters has been released in connection with the exhibition. Available from Baat Books.

Concept and design by Arve Båtevik.

Other exhibitions by Skriftkompani include Skrift i Oslo and Ingen veit kven Trygve er.