OTTO BAUMBERGER (1889-1961) ORESTEIA. 1917. 50 3/4x35 5/8 inches. J. E. Wolfenberger, Zurich. Condition B+: repaired tears and minor losses in margins; tape stain in top right corner. Framed. Throughout his prolific career it appears that Baumberger designed less than half a dozen theater posters, and these were all early on and executed in a style different from most of his other work. They prove that in addition to being a talented graphic designer, he was also an accomplished draughtsman and painter. The Oresteia is the only Greek trilogy to have survived the ages. Written by Aeschylus, these Greek tragic masterpieces outline the end of the curse on the house of Atreus. It was exactly the kind of monumental work that would have appealed to Max Reinhardt (1873-1943), one of the giants of 20th century theater, and the director of this production, performed at the State theater in Zurich. Reinhardt directed the Deutsches Theatre in Berlin from 1905 to 1930, directed the Josephstadt Theatre in Vienna, from 1924-1933, and together with Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmanstahl, founded the Salzburg Festival. In this dramatic image we are shown Orestes, who has just killed his mother and her husband Aegisthus. Judging by his expression he has already begun to be tormented by the furies who haunt him because of this travesty. Baumberger's dramatic treatment of this legendary scene places Orestes against a black background, as if framing him in his guilt and solitude. Baumberger 45.
