ART & ARTISTS: Ludwig Hohlwein

Tuesday, 11 June 2013

Ludwig Hohlwein – part 1

Ludwig Hohlwein
photo: Anton Sahm

Ludwig Hohlwein (1874 - 1949), born in Wiesbaden, Berchtesgaden in 1874 was a German poster artist. He was trained and practiced as an architect until 1906 when he switched to poster design.

Hohlwein was born in the Rhine-Main region of Germany, though he and his work are associated with Munich and Bavaria in southern Germany. There were two schools of ‘Gebrauchsgrafik’ (Advertising Art) in Germany at the time, North and South. Hohlwein's high tonal contrasts and a network of interlocking shapes made his work instantly recognisable.

Poster historian Alain Weill has commented that "Hohlwein was the most prolific and brilliant German posterist of the 20th century... Beginning with his first efforts, Hohlwein found his style with disconcerting facility. It would vary little for the next forty years. The drawing was perfect from the start, nothing seemed alien to him, and in any case, nothing posed a problem for him. His figures are full of touches of colour and a play of light and shade that brings them out of their background and gives them substance"

Hohlwein's most artistically important phase was before World War II in the years 1912-1925. A large variety of his best posters dates to this period. He developed his own distinct style with sharply defined forms, bright colours and a good portion of humour. By 1925, he had already designed 3000 different advertisements.

This is part 1 of a 5-part post on the works of Ludwig Hohlwein: