May 07, 2007 - Sale 2113

Sale 2113 - Lot 47

Price Realized: $ 2,280
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
MIHALY BIRO (1886-1948) MÄDCHENHANDEL. 1927.
73 1/2x49 3/8 inches. Waldheim Eberele, Vienna.
Condition A; vertical and horizontal folds. Two sheets.
Biro was born in Budapest and studied art in Berlin, Paris and London before returning to Hungary to begin his professional career. He was a prominent young designer and took an active role in the Socialist revolutionary movement in 1918, designing several powerful and unforgettable images. When the conservatives came to power Biro fled to Vienna, where he continued to design posters for the Social Democratic Party, but also involved himself more in commercial projects. In 1928 he moved to Berlin, where he designed movie posters for the UFA. Biro essentially used the same system for every poster he designed: an oversized central figure and a lot of red, which is exactly how he advertises this film about the white slave trade.