German poster museum Essen

Having paid tribute to the UK’s fantastic vintage poster resources I am sitting on a cold night in Koblenz wondering what the biggest economy in Europe provides for poster enthusiasts

The answer is the Museum Folkwang in Essen

350,000 posters (can that be right?)

There are an abundance of Holweins as you might expect, which other artists match our 20s to 60s profile ?

I give you two names to conjour with : Jan Tschichold and Roman Weyl

Plakat Museum.PNG

Jan Tschichold was a calligrapher, typographer and a book designer. He designed posters, was a teacher and wrote books on typography. He was one of the leaders of the movement Elementare Typografie or “Elementary Typography”. Wikipedia

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Roman Weyl seems to be a ‘lesser known” artist from East Germany specialising in theatre posters

Roman Weyl.PNG

So there you have it, the German vintage poster scene summed up with ruthless efficiency.

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