Apr 24 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2702 -

Sale 2702 - Lot 52

Estimate: $ 30,000 - $ 40,000

WALTER GOTSCHKE (1912-2000)

GROSSER MASARYK PREIS. 1935.

49¼x36¼ inches, 125x97 cm. V. Neubert A Synové, [Prague].
Condition B+: repaired tears, minor creases and restoration in margins and along vertical and horizontal folds; repaired pin holes in corners. Framed.

Gotschke was born in a small town in Silesia (in what is now part of Czechia), but eventually moved to Brno to study architecture. He became fascinated with cars from a young age, and spent his life as an artist devoted to depicting them - not just the vehicles themselves, but also various races and Grand Prix. Throughout his long career, Gotschke worked for Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Fiat, VW, Porsche and numerous race tracks around Europe. His illustrations have appeared in such prominent magazines as Motor Revue, Sports Illustrated, Auto Motor und Sport, and Automobile Quarterly. His posters are a mainstay of any serious car poster collection. Prior to developing a very realistic drawing technique, his posters were much more stylized.

This is one of the earliest posters he designed and arguably his most graphic. Pictured is a Mercedes-Benz W25s, which the artist had likely seen at the same event the previous year, driven by Luigi Fagioli. The race itself was first held in 1930 and was referred to as the Masarykuv Okruh (Masaryk Circuit) on a 29.1 kilometer course built along the roads around Brno. Gotschke designed the poster for the 1932 event, which was reused with different text in 1933. In 1935, the event took on the name Velká cena Masarykov (Grand Masaryk Prize) and Gotschke was again asked to design the poster, an image also used on the programs. In 1936 the event was not held, and in 1937 the organizers reused Gotschke's poster with revised text. This is the German version. This is the only copy known to have come up for auction, purchased in 2014. Rare.

Stembera / Vlckova p. 74.
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