PICTORIAL MODERNISM. If the European poster of the first half of the twentieth century was in many ways a continuation of the 1890s poster, its course was nevertheless strongly affected in the second decade of the century by new modern-art movements and the communication needs of world war.

Plakatstil (German for "poster style"), also known as Sachplakat, was an early style of poster art that originated in Germany in the 1900s. It was started by Lucian Bernhard of Berlin in 1906. The common characteristics of this style are bold eye-catching lettering with flat colors.