Plakatstil

Last updated
Poster for Opel automobiles, by Hans Rudi Erdt, (1911). Hans Rudi Erdt (1883-1918) - Opel.jpg
Poster for Opel automobiles, by Hans Rudi Erdt, (1911).

Plakatstil (German for "poster style"), was an early style of poster art that originated in Germany in the 1900s. [1] It was started by Lucian Bernhard of Berlin in 1906. The common characteristics of this style are bold eye-catching lettering with flat colors. [2] Shapes and objects are simplified, and the composition focuses on a central object; usually a product that is being sold. Plakatstil turned away from the complexity of Art Nouveau and propagated a more modern outlook on poster art. Famous Plakatstil artists include Ludwig Hohlwein, Edmund Edel, Ernst Deutsch-Dryden  [ de ], Hans Lindenstadt, Julius Klinger, Julius Gipkens, Paul Scheurich  [ de ], Karl Schulpig  [ de ] and Hans Rudi Erdt. [3] A later master of the Sachplakat was Otto Baumberger.

Contents

Sachplakat on the other hand is the object posters emphasizing shapes over textual descriptions. Plakatstil and Sachplakat are both early 20th-century German poster styles, but they have distinct approaches to visual communication. Plakatstil, or "poster style," emerged around 1905, pioneered by artists like Lucian Bernhard. This style focuses on extreme simplicity, using flat, high-contrast colors, bold typography, and minimal detail. The subject is often a central product or brand name, making the message immediately clear and memorable with very little text or background. By contrast, Sachplakat, or "object poster," also emphasizes simplicity but in a more realistic and literal way. Artists of the Sachplakat movement, like Ludwig Hohlwein, focused on depicting the advertised product in a realistic, straightforward manner, often as a standalone object with little to no added embellishment. Both styles aim to communicate quickly and effectively, but while Plakatstil emphasizes bold, abstract reduction, Sachplakat leans toward realistic, almost photographic representation of products.

Das Plakat was a German art magazine that was published from 1910 to 1921 by the Verein der Plakatfreunde ("association of friends of the poster"), founded in 1905 and later edited by the Berlin dentist Hans Sachs. Lucian Bernhard was a director of the association. [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Jugendstil</i> Artistic movement; German equivalent of Art Nouveau

Jugendstil was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of Art Nouveau. The members of the movement were reacting against the historicism and neo-classicism of the official art and architecture academies. It took its name from the art journal Jugend, founded by the German artist Georg Hirth. It was especially active in the graphic arts and interior decoration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armin Hofmann</span> Swiss graphic designer and educator (1920–2020)

Armin Hofmann (HonRDI) was a Swiss graphic designer. He was one of the most prominent individuals in Swiss design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neue Galerie New York</span> Art museum in New York City

The Neue Galerie New York is a museum of early twentieth-century German and Austrian art and design located in the William Starr Miller House at 86th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City. Established in 2001, it is one of the most recent additions to New York City's famed Museum Mile, which runs from 83rd to 105th streets on Fifth Avenue in the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Less is more is a principle found in several traditions. Its basic meaning is to keep things simple, similar to the concept of minimalism. Its use in architecture emerges from the idea that simplicity and clarity lead to good design. The concept is often associated with the modernism movement in architecture and design, although it can be applied to many fields, including art, literature, music, and lifestyle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucian Bernhard</span> German artist

Lucian Bernhard was a German graphic designer, type designer, professor, interior designer, and artist during the first half of the twentieth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum der bildenden Künste</span> Art museum in Leipzig, Germany

The Museum der bildenden Künste is a museum in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. It covers artworks from the Late Middle Ages to Modernity.

Graphic design is the practice of combining text with images and concepts, most often for advertisements, publications, or websites. The history of graphic design is frequently traced from the onset of moveable-type printing in the 15th century, yet earlier developments and technologies related to writing and printing can be considered as parts of the longer history of communication.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Unger</span> German painter

Hans Unger was a German painter who was, during his lifetime, a highly respected Art Nouveau artist. His popularity did not survive the change in the cultural climate in Germany after World War I, however, and after his death he was soon forgotten. However, in the 1980s interest in his work revived, and a grand retrospective exhibition in 1997 in the City Museum in Freital, Germany, duly restored his reputation as one of the masters of the Dresden art scene around 1910.

Ludwig Hohlwein was a German poster artist, a pioneer of the Sachplakat style. He trained and practiced as an architect in Munich before he switched to poster design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johannes Handschin</span> Swiss artist (1899–1948)

Johannes Handschin a.k.a. Hans Handschin (1899–1948) was a noted Swiss artist and one of the leaders of the Basel graphic art movement known for their art deco posters.

<i>Berliner Börsen-Courier</i>

The Berliner Börsen-Courier was a German left-liberal daily newspaper published from 1868 to 1933. It focused primarily on prices of securities traded on the stock exchanges and securities information about the mortgage market, but also featured news and reports from industry, commerce, politics and culture. It was subtitled: moderne Tageszeitung für alle Gebiete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Batschari</span>

The Zigarettenfabrik A. Batschari was a German cigar and cigarette manufacturer established in 1834 in Baden-Baden by August Batscharis. Along with other cigarette manufacturers of the period like Josef Garbáty and Manoli, Batschari was at the time a patron of the arts, employing famous artists such as Hans Rudi Erdt, Ivo Puhonny, Lucian Bernhard and Ludwig Hohlwein to produce advertising material. Today, vintage Batschari enamel signs, glass plates, cigarette boxes and posters are popular collectors' items.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Rudi Erdt</span> German graphic designer

Hans Rudi Erdt was a German graphic designer, lithographer and commercial artist known for his contributions to the Sachplakat movement created by Lucian Bernhard. His work at the prestigious Hollerbaum und Schmidt art printing company along with Edmund Edel, Hans Lindenstadt, Julius Klinger, Julius Gipkens, Paul Scheurich and Karl Schulpig make him one of the most important representatives of German poster art between 1906 and 1918. Erdt has also been recognized for his innovative use of typography in posters.

Nancy Stahl is an American illustrator.

Julius E. F. Gipkens was a German painter, illustrator and graphic designer.

Hans Sachs (1881-1974) was a Berlin dentist whose greatest accomplishment came from his passion for posters. He was the leading founder of an important group devoted to collecting posters which started an influential poster magazine. Before the seizure of his collection of 12,500 posters during Kristallnacht on 9 November 1938, he had the largest collection of posters in Germany, probably in the world. He was able to escape to the United States, but he never regained possession of the posters. After years of court battles, 4,344 posters were returned to his son in 2013. Some will be given to museums, but most have been or will be sold at auction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nazi architecture</span> Architecture style promoted by the Nazis

Nazi architecture is the architecture promoted by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime from 1933 until its fall in 1945, connected with urban planning in Nazi Germany. It is characterized by three forms: a stripped neoclassicism, typified by the designs of Albert Speer; a vernacular style that drew inspiration from traditional rural architecture, especially alpine; and a utilitarian style followed for major infrastructure projects and industrial or military complexes. Nazi ideology took a pluralist attitude to architecture; however, Hitler himself believed that form follows function and wrote against "stupid imitations of the past".

Ernst Aufseeser (1880–1940) was a German painter, illustrator and graphic designer. His design work included trademarks, stamps, book covers, typography, posters and textiles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art Nouveau posters and graphic arts</span> Designs portraying natural curves

Art Nouveau posters and graphic arts flourished and became an important vehicle of the style, thanks to the new technologies of color lithography and color printing, which allowed the creation of and distribution of the style to a vast audience in Europe, the United States and beyond. Art was no longer confined to art galleries, but could be seen on walls and illustrated magazines.

Joseph Binder was an Austrian graphic designer and painter. He is recognized as one of the pioneers of the modern poster, noted for his refined, stylized images and high-impact colors. Some of his best known works include posters for the 1939 New York World’s Fair, the U.S. Army Air Corps and the American Red Cross.

References

  1. Consuegra, David, American type design & designers, 2004, pg. 288
  2. "Plakatstil". Csun.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-09-08. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
  3. Rabinowitz, Tova (2006-02-28). Exploring Typography (Illustrated ed.). Cengage Learning. ISBN   1401815057 . Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  4. Heller, Steven (1910-01-13). "Graphic Design Magazines: Das Plakat by Steven Heller". Typotheque. Retrieved 2014-08-19.