Art Art &Bill Peckmann &Books &Comic Art &Illustration 21 Jan 2011 08:32 am
Ludwig Hohlwein
- We’ve been, lately, showcasing some of Lyonel Feirlinger‘s work. A close cousin of his would seem to be Ludwig Hohlwein. Hohlwein was a brilliant German poster artist. His influence seems to have fallen far and wide. Alex Toth and Rowland B. Wilson have both admitted a fondness for Hohlwein, and homage can be found in several of their works. There can also be no doubt that Vernon Grant was aware of Hohlwein’s work.
Hohlwein was born in 1874 and practiced his art until 1906 when he turned to pster design. He quickly became one of the leading masters of his day. (Interestingly, it was 1906 when Feininger did his two great comic strips and left to turn to oil painting in Germany.)
Bill Peckmann introduced me to Hohlwein, and he’s scanned many of the posters from the book to the right, a 1926 publication. Many thanks, again, to Bill for the material.
Here, then, are some of the posters from this book:
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Here’s a note from Bill Peckmann: “Here’s the color version of the ad/poster
from an oversized Dover reprint book. Sorry I couldn’t get it all on the scanner,
but you’ll get the jest of it. It’s that glowing coal of the cigarette in the
silhouette that Rowland just loved. Pretty neat, huh?”
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An Alex Toth image.
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Another Alex Toth image that looks
very much like a Feininger strip panel.
on 21 Jan 2011 at 2:12 pm 1.Stephen Worth said …
Amazing! Thanks for the tip!
on 21 Jan 2011 at 7:38 pm 2.Suzanne Wilson said …
“A sight for sore eyes”!–They are wonderful.
You are right that Rowland B. Wilson was fond of Hohlwein. He decorated his Burbank apartment with a dozen framed copies of the posters. (There was a great owl image that is worth hunting up.) Thus he had constant inspiration whilst working on Disney films. Thanks for posting them.
P.S. The indomitable and outsize “Richard Strauss-Woche Munchen 1910″ woman still resides in the bathroom!
on 21 Jan 2011 at 7:58 pm 3.Eric Noble said …
These are incredible!!! I am so glad we have the internet for such things. I don’t know how else I would have been introduced to such artists like Ludwig Hohlwein or the artists of Simplicissimus. Thank you and Bill Peckmann for all of your findings.
on 22 Jan 2011 at 5:28 am 4.slowtiger said …
One of Munich’s subway stations (of which I don’t remember the name) features a permanent exhibition of Hohlwein’s poster art. The reprints are lined on the wall of one loooong escalator, which are pretty slow in Munich so you have plenty of time to adore the posters.
on 22 Jan 2011 at 7:40 am 5.Stephen Macquignon said …
I love them thank you so much for postng them
on 22 Jan 2011 at 3:38 pm 6.Stephen Worth said …
Would you mind sharing the publishing info on the book these images were taken from? It isn’t the Dover, is it? Thanks!