WALTER HOFMANN (1906-1973) JUNGHANS UHR. Two posters. Circa 1950. Each approximately 46 3/4x33 1/4 inches. Josef Ebrele, Wien. Condition A: horizontal fold. Paper. Hofmann studied at the Academy of Applied Art in his native Vienna. He began his commercial career in the 1930s, and by the 1950s had achieved nationwide fame. Best known today for his fetching images of women in bathing suits for Matzner and Kajak, during the 1950s his prolific posters were ubiquitous, and his colorful, cheerful designs were also used to advertise ski clothing, scores of other products, the farmer's union and tourism. Here, for a watch company, he forgoes his usual rendering of people and instead concentrates on bold graphic imagery. In one, a hand wears a watch that forms part of the poster's title, while the hand itself represents an exclamation mark. And in the other, an outer-worldly depiction of the spring inside the watch is used to express the "trustworthiness" of the product.
