They may be cheesy but your old posters could soon be deemed a work of art if the Athena 'tennis girl' is anything to go by
The image of a knickerless beauty striding across a tennis court became one of the most popular posters of the 1970s, adorning the bedroom walls of teenage boys around the world and selling a total of 2m copies worldwide. The poster has now been framed by the Birmingham Barber Institute of Fine Arts and will feature alongside paintings by LS Lowry, David Hockney and Stanley Spencer in an exhibition on the theme of lawn tennis later this year.
But while "the tennis girl" may have moved into the upper echelons of cultural recognition, the market for teenage and student posters continues to produce an array of designs with often dubious artistic merit. Among those tacked to university dorm walls today include the popular "Beer – helping ugly people have sex since 1862" design, the "Oh shit" cat falling off a tree and the "student crossing" sign complete with inebriated stick man. These follow in the same perhaps frivolous line of past popular posters such as the topless male model with accompanying baby, the classic 1970s Lord of the Rings illustration and chimp on the toilet covered in loo paper.
So which cheesy posters will you admit to owning in your teenage and student years? Did you tack the iconic image of Che Guevara to your walls, stick posters of the Smiths to your pinboard, or were you more of a Just Seventeen pull-out sort?