The lithographic poster was born in 19th-century France, where artists such as Jules Chéret, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Alphonse Mucha were making large splashy statements. As the world industrialized, poster design became more stylized and abstract. By the interwar period, Modernism and Art Deco prevailed, featuring strong diagonals and unexpected palettes. This exhibition covers the birth of the modern poster—the way inventive graphics, typographies, and colors spoke to the changing rhythm and discourse of life—and draws from the collection of Merrill C. Berman, who focused on radical art of the 20th century. —E.C.