When you walk into a Brown student's dorm room, you're likely to find one of a few familiar images on the wall: John Belushi in "Animal House," the Beatles crossing Abbey Road or the iconic Che Guevara.
Buying posters outside Faunce House, at the Brown Bookstore or over the Internet is a beginning-of-year tradition - posters are a popular and inexpensive way to decorate a dorm room.
Chris Alexander works for the College Poster Sale Company. He sets up outside the campus post office each September, where he observes first-hand the annual poster purchasing habits of Brown students. He said that on Monday, the first day of the sale, students bought between 800 and 900 posters bearing images of art, bands, landscapes and movies.
He said art posters tend to be particularly popular. "Andy Warhol is really popular - anything pop art," Alexander said.
Many students adorn their walls with modernist art, while others prefer the works of the impressionists such as Van Gogh, Monet and Matisse. But "romantic and classical-looking art" doesn't sell well, according to Corey Philips, a cashier at the Brown Bookstore.
Also less-than-popular: educational posters depicting female aviators and Greek art.
But, he added, "tropical pictures always sell pretty well."
Giselle Torres '08, who has a poster of a beach scene in her room, thinks pictures of a warmer climate enliven a room when Providence weather is at its worst. The poster also reminds Torres of Puerto Rico, where she grew up. "When it's really dark and gloomy here, I look at it and it makes me feel good," she said.
Nathanael Geman '09 also selected his wall art to evoke memories of his home: Paris. "I chose one poster because it also hangs in a restaurant near my house," Geman said. A poster of the Eiffel Tower also hangs in his room.
While art and landscapes are popular, motivational posters have seen lackluster sales. "We've sold not too many, but a few motivational posters," Philips said. "There's a nice penguin one on individuality."
Robert Emlen, senior lecturer in American civilization and University curator, said he thinks buyers often regret purchasing motivational posters.
"Those would be a great poster to have for your first week at Brown and then you look at it, with its cheery maxim, at Thanksgiving and you'd much rather have a Marilyn Monroe poster," Emlen quipped.
According to Alexander, the popularity of the iconic blonde bombshell has actually decreased at the poster sale this year.
"It's interesting that Marilyn was more popular the last couple of years, but Audrey Hepburn is this year," he said.
Kayla Skinner '10 hung two posters of Hepburn on her walls. "I know it's really corny, but I still like her," she said. "It was probably after seeing 'Roman Holiday' that I fell in love with Audrey. It's more about the type of person she is and what she represents - she has old school charm."
A walk through the halls of Keeney Quadrangle shows that many students favor themes from past generations, often decorating with The Beatles' "Abbey Road" poster, Pink Floyd's "Back Catalogue" or any number of Bob Marley images. Philips said he has watched Bob Marley posters sell out quickly, and said "classic rock in general" is always popular.
The "college" category of Allposters.com, an online poster retailer, corroborates Philips' observation: the Web site displays classic rock posters, along with movie posters for "Scarface," "Pulp Fiction" and "National Lampoon's Animal House."
Emlen said it's a trend he doesn't fully understand. "I wonder why that stuff survives and why people prefer the old stuff to contemporary things," he said.
Alexander said the poster for the recent movie "300" was very popular, but he said, on the whole, vintage is still the rage at Brown.
Philips agreed, noting that the bookstore's reproductions of old Spring Weekend posters have been extremely well-received. "We had these vintage prints of posters with legendary names and people were just snapping them up," Philips said.
Emlen said these prints harken back to the original purpose of posters as announcements for travel or sporting events. One of the most popular posters, according to Emlen, is a reproduction of a poster of Brown's appearance in the Rose Bowl in 1916. "It reminds everybody of a different time at Brown," he said.
As University curator, Emlen is responsible for furnishing all of Brown's buildings with artwork and he has collected anecdotes about posters and popular art at Brown.
He said William Poland, a 19th century professor of classics and art, initiated a fund that allowed students to rent posters from the Office of Residential Life. "You could rent a framed print - a colored reproduction of a work of art - from ResLife for a year for about a dollar," Emlen said, adding that this wa a popular option at a time when high-quality posters were scarce and expensive.
Though posters remain the most popular dorm room decoration, many students have found other ways to decorate their rooms. Hannah Wohl '10 covered the walls and ceiling of her room with tapestries and hung paper lanterns. She said she wanted to give her room a unique look, because a dorm room "shows your personality."
Wohl also has a "Wish You Were Here" poster hanging by her desk to signify her favorite song. Graham Rogers '11 filled a wall with framed black and white pictures taken mostly on his travels to Tanzania and San Diego.
Rogers said many first-years are inventing original ways to spruce up their rooms. "A lot of people are stealing cool posters - like RISD posters," Rogers said. He said he has noticed many people stealing poster advertisements for the upcoming Production Workshop performance of "Salvador Dali Makes Me Hot."
Morgan Ritter-Armour '11 is holding off before she decorates her room. "I don't like having things really cluttered," she said, adding that she wouldn't put up any posters "unless there was something I feel passionate about."
Jina Park '11 has also adopted a minimalist approach. "I put up things I needed, like the class schedule and a poster of a Black Eyed Peas concert I went to," she said.
Alexander said some students seem to be decorating based on the color, not theme, of their posters. "Pink seems more popular this year," Alexander said.
Emlen said he strongly disapproves of this trend. "It's just plain wrong to have pink posters in your room," Emlen said. "My thesis on this is that posters with pink in them will give you bad dreams, and this is based exclusively on my feelings about pink stuff."
