German Modern : Graphic Design from Wilhelm to Weimar
Editorial Reviews Review
From: Bloomsbury Review
Steven Heller and Louise Fili continue their wonderful sense of graphic design sourcebooks with German Modern. Concentrating on the period 1908-1929, the authors bring us a delightful array of posters and ads that concisely illustrate the innovative styles and visual treatments of the many German commercial artists who produced work that stepped outside what we usually think of as Art Deco. Divided into subject chapters of Industry, Culture, Travel, Transportation, Sundries, Food and Drink, Tobacco, Commercial Art, and Typography, the book also contains a seldom-seen look at the German Notgeld, or emergency scrip, which took the place of the unstable mark as the country suffered under the immense debt of World War 1. From the Sachpakat (object posters) of Lucien Bemhard to the Neue Typographische work of Paul Wendisch and Max Bittrof, this enjoyable collection brings back to permanence another group of ephemera that retain their impact as art symbols and influences." Communications Art The latest in Chronicle's Art Deco series, 'German Modern' covers what is perhaps the most enduringly influential of the European Moderne movements. As the authors explain in their brief history, England may have been the cradle of the Arts and Crafts movement and France gave us Art Nouveau, but it was in Germany where the foundation for twentieth-century design was laid, a foundation based upon simplicity and abstraction. There's Lucien Bernhard's bold 1908 Stiller poster: one shoe, one name, perhaps the ancient precursor to modern minimalist ad campaigns like Nike's. Of course, out of Weimar Germany rose the Bauhaus, the single most influential art school of this century. 'German Modern' does not really showcase Bauhaus design (already amply documented elsewhere), bur rather that of more obscure (even unknown) artists clearly affected by it, like Max Bittrof, whose 1925 poster for printers Shirmer & Mahlau clearly reflects Bauhaus tenets in its red, blue and black geometric stylizing. With over 200 posters, advertisements, typefaces, letterheads, stamps, paper money and other forms of design (all reproduced in color, most with year and design credit and many never-before published), those who collect this series will be eager to add German Modern to their bookshelves. German Modern : Graphic Design from Wilhelm to Weimar
German Modern : Graphic Design from Wilhelm to Weimar,Steven Heller,Louise Fili,Chronicle Books LLC,0811818195,20th century,Art,Art & Art Instruction,Commercial - General,Commercial Art,Germany,Graphic Arts - General,History,History - General,History - Modern (Late 19th Century to 1945),Modernism (Art),Themes, motives,Photography / General
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