GEWISTA GRIESSLER GIBBS ZAHNCREME. 72x24 1/2 inches, 183x62 cm. F. Adametz, Vienna. Condition B+: repaired tears, staining, creases and abrasions in margins and image; minor losses at edges; restoration along vertical and horizontal folds. Two sheets. Franz Griessler studied painting in Vienna and designed his first poster after World War I. He opened a design studio in partnership with Gewista, a large outdoor advertising agency, for which he produced a number of good and successful campaigns. For unexplained reasons he left Austria in 1947 and is believed to have died in Honolulu in the 1970s. This elongated format was common in Vienna in the 1930s. To suggest that this is an unendorsed promotion from a famous boxer would be to misunderstand the usage of black images in advertising throughout the early 20th century. On more than one occasion soap companies, and in this case a toothpaste manufacturer, used black faces in their ads to literally highlight the difference between "dirty" and "clean." Up until the 1980s, when it was finally withdrawn, a brand of toothpaste called Darkie was for sale across Asia.
