|
This is an original 1926 print of a Ludwig Hohlwein-designed poster advertising the International Exhibition of Humorous Art, "organized by the London Opinion," with the price of one shilling for entrance. The original poster was created in 1914, at the beginning of the artist's accomplished design career. This illustration was published in a 1926 retrospective of Hohlwein's work.
This photogravure is after an advertisement designed by the distinguished Ludwig Hohlwein (1874-1949), a German architect-turned-poster artist of the early 20th century who pioneered the Sachplakat style, and produced a large volume of work between 1911 and 1925. This hand-printed sepia photogravure is from a fine 1926-printed and published collection.
The Sachplakat, or Plakatstil, style of poster art was started by Lucian Bernhard in 1906, and is characterized by the use of simplified compositions employing bold lettering, flat colors, and simplified shapes to focus on a central subject. Ludwig Hohlwein's body of work is considered exemplary of this particular style.
If requested at the time of purchase (please message me prior to initial shipping), I will be happy to prepare and include a Certificate of Authenticity, as well as a peel-off, laser-printed facsimile of the copyright information as it appears in the collection from which this photogravure was removed. Purchasers who frame their prints frequently affix the copyright statement to the back of the frame.
Printed on light-weight paper, the overall sheet size is approximately 9" x 11.75", and the printed advertisement (shown in the scan below) is 5 5/8" x 9", with margins of 1/2" to 1.75" all the way around to allow easy matting and framing. There may be text or another image on the reverse of this print.
The print is a true copper plate photogravure print, with the distinctive saturated shadows and depth. It is a very attractive work, and exceptionally well-printed.
I've matted and framed several of these, and they look very nice in colored mats. Please check my store for other poster, natural history, or historical art prints perfect for framing or incorporating into other projects.
A Note on the Photogravure Process: This process was developed to provide an archivally permanent way of reproducing a photographic image. Because of its high quality and richness, photogravure was used for both original fine art prints and for photo-reproduction of works from other media such as paintings. Photogravure uses a flat copper plate, etched rather deeply, and printed by hand. Photogravure registers an extraordinary variety of tones, by transfering etching ink from an etched copperplate to special pre-moistened paper run through an etching press. The unique tonal range comes from the variable depth of etch. In other words, the shadows of the image are etched many times deeper into the plate than the highlights, and those deeper reservoirs hold and transfer more ink than the shallower reservoirs. Unlike half-tone processes (which merely vary the size of dots applied to paper), the actual quantity and depth of ink wells are varied in a photogravure plate and thus blend into a smooth tone by the printing process. Each photogravure print's appearance is truly unique.
Please note that photogravures are a bit difficult to scan. The depth and warmth of the product is considerably more apparent in the actual print than can be seen in the scan. Please refer to an additional photo for a close-up view captured by camera, showing the characteristic honeycomb matrix of the etched copper plate under magnifcation.
Below is a cropped view of the sheet--without full margins, and without the caption text, "Tafel 24" which is printed at the bottom edge of the sheet. The scan below is a fairly accurate representation of the print.
|
