Apr 24, 2014 - Sale 2346

Sale 2346 - Lot 1

Price Realized: $ 52,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 20,000 - $ 30,000
BERTOLD LÖFFLER (1874-1960) KUNSTSCHAU WIEN. 1908.
14 1/4x19 1/2 inches, 36 1/4x49 1/2 cm. Alb. Berger, Vienna.
Condition A- / B+: scuffing and minor abrasions in margins and image; pin holes in corners. Printed on thick paper.
Bertold Löffler studied at the Decorative Arts School in Vienna along with Koloman Moser. Throughout his entire life he was very active in many fields of the arts, both creating and teaching. Much of his graphic work was produced for the "Fledermaus" cabaret and for the Wiener Werkstätte, for whom he designed posters, postcards, calendars and other collateral material. In 1908, Löffler participated in the large art exhibition, "Kunstschau." Organized under the leadership of Gustav Klimt, the large exhibition combined the work of Vienna's Decorative Arts School, the Art School for Women and Girls and the Wiener Werkstätte. It was held in a building built specifically for the show by Josef Hoffmann, that contained 54 rooms and held the work of 179 artists; room 10 was dedicated to the poster art of Löffler. He also designed this poster advertising the exhibition (Oskar Kokoshka designed another one). It is a masterful stepping stone between the heavy, often abstract ornamentation of the Secession and the cleaner, more linear designs of the Wiener Werkstätte. This is the smaller format. Denscher 70, Vienna Secession 13, Modern Poster 45, Maitres 1900 p. 182, Design Graphique p. 28-29, Encyclopedie de l'Affiche p. 323.