PETER BEHRENS (1868-1940) TENTOONSTELLING KEULEN / DEUTSCHE WERKBUND AUSSTELLUNG. 1914.
42 1/4x24 3/4 inches, 107 1/4x63 cm. [A. Molling & Comp., Hannover.]
Condition B+ / B: overpainted margins; repaired tears and creases in margins and image; reds faded; with attached train schedule at bottom. Two-sheets.
As a member of the Munich Secession and founder of the Darmstadt Künstlerkolonie in 1901, Behrens was a key figure in the birth of German graphic design. He was also a driving force in the founding of the Werkbund, where industry and design came together. Behren's allegorical poster for the Werkbund exhibition in Cologne in 1914, a showcase of what would become a worldwide example for industrial design, features a classical rendition of a man on horseback carrying a torch. Although a tenuous analogy can be made about the winds of change blowing the flame carried by the figure in the poster, the style of the image belied the modern progressive nature of the event and it was widely criticized. It was replaced by a strictly typographic poster by Ehmcke, making the remaining copies extremely rare and important. This is the Dutch version. DFP-III 95, Kunst 15, Politische Plakate p. 18, Kunst-Ereignisse 57, Internationale Plakate 208.