JOHANN BAPTIST MAIER (?-1942) KIEL. 1921. 36 1/4x23 3/4 inches, 92x61 cm. C. Schaidt, Kiel. Condition A-: overpainting and minor repaired tears at edges. Starting in 1920, the German port city of Kiel organized an annual weeklong event of Art and Science. Home to the German Imperial Navy and the country's defense industry prior to World War I, this port city lost its economic raison d'être with Germany's defeat in the war. Changing over to a peacetime economy and in an attempt to burnish their image, the city launched this cultural event, heralded by posters largely designed in Expressionistic and cutting-edge ways. As an indication of Kiel's importance as a maritime city, the posters depicted marine motifs.
