FRITZ HELLMUT EHMCKE (1878-1965) PRESSA. 1928. 27 3/4x19 7/8 inches. Kölner-Görreshäus, Cologne. Condition A: minor repaired tear in bottom margin. Paper. Ehmcke was a graphic designer, typographer and architect. He studied art in Berlin and went on to found the influential Steglitz Studio along with Georg Belwe and Friedrich Kleukens. He also taught design in Dusseldorf and Munich. The huge Pressa exhibition was held to highlight German dominance in all the fields of printing and publishing. It was also intended as a showcase of modernist architecture (with the pavilion for the publisher Rudolf-Mosse, designed by Erich Mendelsohn), and modernist exhibition display (it featured the legendary work of El Lissitsky for the U.S.S.R. pavilion). Ehmcke was put in charge of the poster for the exhibition and produced two different designs, each using bold sans-serif typography and flat geometric shapes. One is a stylization of the old Cologne cathedral, the Rhine and the tower from the Pressa exhibition. This image is an even more geometrically-stylized depiction featuring the emblematic brick tower at the center of the fair built by the architect Alfred Abel.
