LUDWIG HOHLWEIN (1874-1949) BESUCHET DEN TIERGARTEN. 1912.
40 3/4x29 inches, 103 1/2x73 3/4 cm. Wolfrum & Hauptmann, Nurnberg.
Condition A-: tears in margins, some slightly into image; tape on verso along repaired tear in left margin. Paper.
Animals of all kinds were a source of inspiration for Hohlwein, and he drew them with an ease and deftness born of respect. Animals feature in many of his posters and he was renowned beyond the poster world for his sketches of them. Thus, he was the obvious choice for a commission to design the poster for the opening of the Munich Zoo in 1911. Over the following year, he designed four additional posters promoting zoos - two more for the zoo in Munich and two for the zoo in Nuremberg, which opened in May 1912. This image, with its clever use of negative space to depict the zebra's stripes, is perhaps one of Hohlwein's rare attempts at humor. It is certainly an exotic and eye-catching combination and may well speak to Hohlwein's desire to put something colorful next to something else black and white. One of two variations, the other reads "Tiergarten Nürnberg." rare. We have found only one other copy at auction. Hohlwein / Stuttgart 70, DFP-III 1409 (var), The Poster 72.