May 09 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2668 -

Sale 2668 - Lot 37

Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,000

ERNST NEUMANN (1871-1954)

MARKE SOSA. 1908.

54½x35½ inches, 138½x90¼ cm. Hollerbaum & Schmidt, Berlin.
Condition B: tape staining and slight darkening in margins; water stains in bottom left corner; repaired tears, replaced losses, creases and abrasions in margins and image and along vertical and horizontal fold seam. Two-sheets. Mounted directly to linen.

Neumann was a German painter and commercial artist who studied at Kassel Academy, then established himself in Berlin, where he became celebrated for his artistic printmaking. He contributed artwork for the magazines Jugend and Simplicissimus, and helped establish a graphic art school in 1900. Neumann, who in his early career was inspired by visual conceits of American advertising, later "enlivened his posters with strong spatial effects, which were influenced by the impressionist painting's ability to capture movement and life through light and color" (MIT Design Issues, Vol 21, No. 3, p. 50, by Sherwin Simmons).

As advertising director for Sorge & Sabeck, a firm that "specialized in sporting goods and accessories for cars, motorboats, and airplanes," Neumann created a variety of advertisements for catalogues and posters. This poster for Sosa tennis balls "focuses the viewer's attention on a cluster of balls that lie on the court at the bottom of the net. While the upper half of the space is closed off by the net's interlaced cords, the viewer is drawn to that space by the suggestion of buildings and a tree line in the distance, while the tennis player's swing and stride provide a counter-movement, literally bursting through the net's surface. It is an irrational spatial effect, simultaneously calling attention to surface and depth. . . Neumann's design challenged the printers' professional skills, creating a poster whose artistic complexity was radically unlike any other poster" (ibid. p. 60).

Le Tennis A l'Affiche np, Wember 622, DFP-III 2363, L'Affiche Tennis 8.
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