May 19, 2022 - Sale 2605

Sale 2605 - Lot 8

Price Realized: $ 1,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,000

LUCIAN BERNHARD (1883-1972)

"CASTELL" / A.W. FABER. 1908.


11 3/4x17 1/4 inches, 29 3/4x43 3/4 cm.
Condition B+: small tears and abrasions at edges; creases in image; minor scuffing at bottom; small metal grommets at top edge; cardboard strips along top and bottom on verso. Paper.

In 1906, at the age of 23, Lucian Bernhard won a poster design competition sponsored by Priester matches. Ernst Growald, the director of the Berlin printing establishment Hollerbaum & Schmidt, recognized his talent and immediately hired Bernhard. The young artist quickly developed a graphic design system that proved to be revolutionary in the advertising world. Bernhard was the father of the Sachsplakat (Object Poster), a style in which the object is depicted in flat colors, with no ornamentation and no shadow, against a monochromatic background with very large, bold typography. This rare design for A.W. Faber pencils (the first brand name pencil) epitomizes this style.