May 06, 2002 - Sale 1935

Sale 1935 - Lot 104

Price Realized: $ 2,990
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500
ERIK NITSCHE (1908-1998) GENERAL DYNAMICS. Group of 8 posters. 1958.
50 1/4x35 1/2 inches. Marsens, Lausanne.
Condition varies, generally A-: minor repaired tears and creases at edges; pinholes in corners. Paper.
After his studies in Switzerland, Nitsche moved to Paris where he did work for the printer Draeger, and then, in 1934 he came to the United States. In the USA he worked for various companies, including 20th Century Fox and Decca Records and also different institutions including the MOMA. In 1955 he was appointed art director at General Dynamics. The 29 posters he designed for them between 1955 and 1960, represent the most impressive corporate image campaign of it's era. The first one, Atoms for Peace, was published in more than ten languages for the 1955 Atomic Energy conference in Geneva. It was so successful that he proceeded to create five more images. He followed their success with this series, Exploring the Universe<>, in 1958. Like their predecessors, they offer a modern, poetic and friendly approach to progress, using only soft colors, most often pale green. The last series, Electronic Intelligence<>, was published in 1960.
ref: The Modern American Poster<>, National Museum of Art, Kyoto 1983, nos. 82-84.