May 10, 2016 - Sale 2414

Sale 2414 - Lot 58

Price Realized: $ 2,125
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
GERRIT KILJAN (1891-1968) KOOPT WELDADIGHEIDS POSTZEGELS EN BRIEFKAARTEN / TEN BATE VAN HET MISDEELDE KIND. 1931.
38 1/2x26 1/2 inches, 97 3/4x67 1/4 cm. Senefelder, Amsterdam.
Condition B+: repaired tear through bottom margin; repaired tears, creases and wrinkles in margins and image; minor staining in image. Mounted on Japan.
In 1918, Kiljan became a professor at the Royal Academy in Den Haag, where he opened the first advertising department in Holland. Along with Piet Zwart and Paul Schuitema, Kiljan created posters and stamps for the PTT - Dutch Postal and Telecommunications Authority. These founders of New Photography, "in their work and their teaching defended the use of forms that were created out of materials and industrial techniques from their own time. They were the first to use phototypography in the Netherlands" (Dutch Art, p. 161). This poster by Kiljan, encouraging people to "buy stamps and postcards for the benefit of the deprived child," was controversial because it diverged from the previous designs in the series by depicting handicapped rather than healthy children. As an industrial designer, Kiljan's connection to the telephone industry ran even deeper than his graphic design - he also designed the "Heemaf type 1955" telephone that was used throughout Europe from the 1950s to 1990s. Dutch Poster 203.