MIHALY BIRO (1886-1948) ALLATKERT. 1914. 37x241/2 inches. Székesföv. Hâsikönyomda. Condition B+: repaired tears in margins; vertical and horizontal folds. Japan. Born in Budapest, Mihaly Biro studied art in Berlin, Paris, and London before returning to Hungary where he became a prominent young designer. He was an active part of the Hungarian revolutionary movement and in 1919 had become the political poster commissar of the Hungarian Socialist Republic, creating such images as his famous giant red worker with a huge hammer for Nepszava. The Budapest Zoo was an active advertiser in the years before the war (see Swann Modernist Poster catalogue #2006, lot 52), and this bold silhouette of a vulture gains tremendous strength from the bright red background.
