Feb 20 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2695 -

Sale 2695 - Lot 259

Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000

ARTUR BERGER (1892-1981)

MARX EMAIL / STREICHFERTIGE LACKE. 1912.

37x24¾ inches, 94x62¾ cm. A. Berger, Vienna.
Condition B+: creases and minor abrasions in margins and image; unobtrusive vertical and horizontal folds; pin holes in corners; pencil marks and notations in margins; tipped to mount in frame.

Artur Berger was known for his glass and textile works for the Wiener Werkstatte. This, his only poster, advertising a lacquer company, is an extraordinary and rare image. Printed in 1912 it is such a progressive design that it transcends being simply avant-garde and assumes a premonitory status - it is a Pop Art image fifty years before Pop Art. In its time this poster created a scandal among lovers of the Jugendstil. Ottokar Mascha, author of the influential 1915 book Oesterreichische Plakatkunst, who already held disdain for artists like Kokoschka, stated that, "this poster is certainly very striking - because of its ugliness" (Denscher p. 144).

Denscher p. 144, Austria Posters p. 17.
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