Art Nouveau

Lorenzaccio (Sarah Bernhardt). Poster. Alphonse Mucha, 1896. Theatre de la Renaissance, Paris.

From Parkland Library, "Advertising, Reflections of a Century" by Bryan Holme.
It functions as a promotion for a theatre performance, starring the famous French actress, Sarah Bernhardt, as well as "where" and "what" (as in, what the play is called). I really enjoyed the borders and floral design as well as the gentle figure portrayed in this. The font has horizontal and vertical positioning acting as an extension of the frame. The font has a bit of a serif and looks very consistent.

I really like Mucha's artwork, and I didn't even know who made it before so I'm very interested in finding out more about him. His art and design seem very feminine and warm; It really draws me right to it.

Emphasis by Color Contrast

Rainbow necklace. Ad (detail). Pamplemousse. 1979. Boucheron

From Parkland library, "Advertising, Reflections of a Century" by Bryan Holme
I think this ad serves a good function giving attention to the jewelry. You think, "Is there a necklace on that cat?" and then you obviously look at it, observing the bright shining colors in contrast with the black. I also think the lighting from the left does very well to draw the eye in a natural motion. The image is also very  symmetrical by being just a simple picture of a cat, which does all the better at creating focus on the product of interest.

Unity & Balance (late modern)

Enka Rayon Ad. Francesco Scavullo. 1952.

-From Parkland library, "Advertising: Reflections of a century" by Bryan Holme.
 This is an ad for Enka Rayon, a company that makes rayon clothing.
I think it displays the clothing and material nicely, and reuses colors (mostly green) throughout for a nice complementing contrast.
The text for the brand name is big, while the description and location is small and placed in the negative space, so first you see the women's face, the name, the dress, and then the description. At least that's how I saw it. I like the use of serif font, its slim but still bold.