HANS RUDI ERDT (1883-1918) INTERNATIONALE AUSSTELLUNG FÜR REISE U. FREMDENVERKEHR. 1911. 23 1/8x17 1/2 inches. Hollerbaum & Schmidt, Berlin. Condition A: minor restoration in central text; vertical and horizontal folds. Framed. Hans Rudi Erdt was a prominent graphic designer in Berlin before the First World War, and a member of the "golden team" of designers who worked for Hollerbaum & Schmidt (a prestigious group that included Lucian Bernhard, Julius Klinger, Deutsch and Julius Gipkens). Here, to advertise an exhibition on international travel, Erdt depicts an extremely dapper gentleman, dressed in the finery expected of sophisticated, worldly travelers of the era. He has a book in his hand, a pipe in his mouth, and is walking in what is most certainly a railway station. The poster was originally printed for a similar exhibition in 1909, and also exists in different formats; the horizontal versions only depict the elegant gentleman from the waist up. DFP-III 771, Weill 173, Wember 273.
