May 10, 2004 - Sale 2006

Sale 2006 - Lot 18

Price Realized: $ 12,650
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
KAFFEE HAG. 1913.
34x233/4 inches. Oscar Conseé, Munich.
Condition A.
One of Hohlwein's influences as a graphic artist was the work of the Beggarstaff Brothers, which can be seen in this auction by comparing the tennis player in this poster with the Chinese man in lot 1. While this later profile owes a lot to the earlier one, Hohlwein's is an incomparably more sophisticated treatment. It is a brazen attempt to stand a light-colored character against a white background, and Hohlwein makes it work! The artistry seems simple, as the figure is depicted with only the barest of forms and strokes (the heels of his shoes, his belt and a few minor shadows) and without any outlining, but it is one of Hohlwein's most impressive, tour-de-forces of graphism, and is one of his rarest posters! DFP-III 1456, Modern Poster no. 59, p. 84, Schone p. 194.