Jun 18, 2020 - Sale 2538

Sale 2538 - Lot 178

Unsold
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
ARMIN HOFMANN (1920- ) WILHELM TELL / BASLER FREILICHTSPIELE. 1963.
50 1/2x35 1/2 inches, 128 1/4x90 cm. Wassermann, [Basel.]
Condition A: minor creases and abrasions at edges. Paper.
Steven Heller, writing in the catalogue of the artist's work for the Zürich Museum, states that Hofmann's posters "collectively epitomize mid-century modernism . . . [in his poster for] William Tell, he used the typically sonorous economy of his resources to show what a fundamental change applied art was undergoing. The Tell play is firmly established in popular Swiss culture . . . Hofmann takes up the indispensable symbols of the Tell legend, the apple and the arrow, but uses typeface and image to condense them into a symbolic abstraction of an elegance unparalleled for this subject matter." Hofmann p. 65, Muller-Brockmann 113, The Poster p. 333, Modern Poster 229, Swiss Poster Art p. B139, Margadant 118, Encyclopedie de l'Affiche p. 242, MoMA 618.1981.