V. exposition nationale suisse des beaux-arts, Kunsthalle Basel, du 11. sept. - 23. octobre 1898
The pattern
This still is filed under Event symbol poster.
Define
A symbol or allegory that makes an event feel like a destination. Not a timetable. A magnet.
Mechanism
Attraction by emblem. Date and venue ride under a picture that already means come.
Verdict
We are filling a room, a night, or a run of dates
Why it works
Red type on a black laurel ground gives the highest possible contrast while keeping the lettering inside the picture rather than beside it, so image and information are one surface. The wreath carries the year, which turns a piece of data into the poster's emblem and gives the annual edition a recognisable slot to change. Landscape format and a painted border make the sheet read as a framed picture on the wall, which is exactly the claim a fine-arts exhibition wants to make about itself. The figure is placed off to the left with the wreath at eye height, so the reading order runs person, year, city, then dates.
Steal this when
Use this when the event is annual or numbered and the edition number is the news: build an emblem that holds the year, and keep everything else fixed so each year's sheet is recognised as the same institution.