Jun 18, 2020 - Sale 2538

Sale 2538 - Lot 44

Price Realized: $ 1,300
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,000
WILLEM SANDBERG (1897-1984) MONUMENTALE KUNST. 1935.
39x27 1/4 inches, 99x69 1/4 cm.
Condition B: tears, repaired tears and extensive creasing along top and right edges; foxing in outer image; archival tape on verso; pin holes in corners. Paper.
A graphic designer and typographer, Sandberg's largest body of work was produced for the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, where he began working in 1928, became curator in 1937 and ultimately served as the museum's director between 1945 and 1962. During his tenure there he designed more than 300 posters for the museum as well as the catalogues and the exhibitions themselves. His pre-war posters are more structured and in keeping with European design tenets, such as from the Bauhaus, with sensible, straightforward typography. This poster is a turning point in Sandberg's career in that it is a totally liberated composition in which he plays with typography, drawing and abstract shapes to build a well-balanced and dynamic layout. This was the first exhibition at the Stedelijk for which Sandberg designed a catalogue in addition to the poster. Modern Dutch p. 121, Encyclopedie de l'Affiche p. 326.