about ludwig hohlwein

In the year 1874, Ludwig Hohlwein was born in Germany. He trained as an architect during his formative years, practicing up to 1906. At this point, he decided to become a poster designer as a profession. Ludwig was able to artistically combine the use of color with architecture while comprehending the fundamentals of graphics. His posters were noteworthy because of the dramatic tonal contrasts he employed as well as the networking of interconnecting shapes. According to a poster historian named Allan Weill, Ludwig Hohlwein created the most brilliant posters that Germany had ever seen because he had found his signature aesthetic, and nothing else could match the quality of his incredible work. How Ludwig Hohlwein Emerged as a Commissioned Poster Propagandist

Due to Ludwig outstanding works, Hitler employed him to work for him in the creation of propagandist posters. Hitler and his Nazi Party had discovered that for him and his party to rise back into power was to influence the mind of the Germans by victimizing Germany through the spread of propaganda. Thus, Hitler seized the opportunity of having Ludwig to work for him in the designing of the posters to his likeness. Other media such as radio and newspapers closed down by Hitler to give way for Nazi party publications and posters pass information in Germany. Through the propaganda, it was possible to destroy the European Jews 1. The Nazi propaganda explored on the use of modern communication methods such as the use of radio, aerial travel, and novelty. The use of this propaganda was effective in the quest of persuading the public.





The spread of propaganda aimed at the distortion of military and political news. Partial truth said omissions in the main messages, skewed fictitious news, as well as downplaying historical facts. Hitler managed to indoctrinate the young generation of Germany and altered the policies that governed the economy of Germany. This was made a reality by the Ministry for Public Enlightenment headed by Josef Goebbels 2. Propaganda instilled in the film industry, the Nazi newspapers, and the posters to blind the German citizens by deceiving them to support Hitler, as he was the best option. Anti – Semitic posters used to show the level of tolerance they had for other cultures in the community to portray the good will of Hitler and his human nature as far as hospitality was concerned. For instance, the Nazi anti-polish propaganda depicted the poles had objectionable and sloppy behavior, linking them together with the Gypsies and Jews with having been part of the International Conspiracy. The propaganda aimed at the poles to have horrific allegations of anti-Semitic killings by the Russians yet the International Jewry had a good life back in England. The poster on the left shows highly colored red to symbolize polish bloodshed and the color of the flag. The Jewish figure holding the string is indirectly involved in the killing with a rat-like nose and tail carrying a briefcase. The short length of the string held to symbolize the persistent relationship between the Nazi party and the ideologies of the Russians army.







From the picture, it shows as if the head continuously smashed on the innocent wall that has a Germany Swastika thus Germany had nothing to do with the bloodshed. Ludwig’s style evolved through plenty of scenarios and facets. His earlier paintings and posters had Victorian elements such as lavish colors and excessive ornament as well as embellishments. This was distracting to the audience and often made the artwork cluttered. Unless an observer was keen, he could be distracted from the central photograph. An example is a photograph below which is flooded with the yellow color that overwhelms the two people in the photograph. Additionally, this mode of drawing was devoid of detail and if there were details in the photography, then they would barely be noticed due to the overwhelming use of colors. However, with the advent of the Poster style, Ludwig switched his decorative mannerisms of the Art Nouveau style and adopted a cleaner interface with less clutter. This style was witnessed during early modernization where it advocated for against Victorian excess and thus the various postings done here were clean with clear outlines and focus 3.

The poster style saw Ludwig embrace a simplistic mode of art in the German posters often referred to as German “Plaka ts til”. Form the heavy embellishments characteristic of Victorian art, Ludwig embraced simplification, removing these ornamentations and leaving only the taut lines in his photographs. The effects of this are the recognizable and distinct pictorial references and a clear message that can be easily discerned by an observer without distractions. Thus, the posters evolved from being decorations to be powerful communicators of concepts, events, and ideas. As a matter of fact, this new style was consistent with technological and





business demands for the time and thus demonstrated Ludwig’s potential to the business world which promptly recruited him for their poster developments.

By the year 1925, he had designed over 3000 different posters for the commercial sector and expanded his realm abroad into the United states but never majored in these foreign markets. His mode of painting took the form of color application over several stages that dried at different times and layered on top of one another to produce shaded modulations, this meant that the final image was actually a composition of various parts that were interlocking elegantly to form a seamless picture 3. Additionally, he paid specific attention to his lettering while still maintaining the dominance of his image. His typography was often readable and grouped together in a square











block and characterized by gothic typefaces, serif, and sans serif. He developed posters for companies such as Audi, BMW, and Daimler-Benz at the time. Image showing Victorian type painting

The simplistic nature of the poster design used by Ludwig Hohlwein has been witnessed over the periods of time ranging from world war I to modernism. Examples of posters from these durations have been demonstrated in the subsequent section to clarify the point and show the adherence of subsequent posters to the simplistic nature of painting and lettering practices by Ludwig Hohlwein.

In my opinion, Ludwig's poster style evolved in the manner it did to respond to the various market that he targeted. Additionally, it would have been much easier to and economical on paint to have clear posters that could depict information well. As a matter of fact, his target markets, the commercial industry, for example, emphasized on clarity rather than decorations which allowed him to adapt in order to meet such demands.





This become rewarding when he sold over 3000 posters and become financially successful

World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution

The use of posters increased during World War I, this was because posters spread propaganda in order to gain political mileage. The wake of war meant that there was need to advertise and communicate during the critical wartime. This was to inform on the recruiting of soldiers, raising of funds, to encourage volunteer efforts, encourage production and provoking the outrage at possible enemy killings.





















Modernism Art Deco

These posters were influenced by expressionism and futurism. It marked the transition form use of illustrations to use of graphic design to advertise. Art Deco was developed in the mid- twenties with age style, power and speed as the themes. The shapes developed had simple, streamline and sleek letterforms that were angular to symbolize the jazz age.



World War II and End of stone lithography

The posters aimed at communicating during the World War II. They employed the use of common objects to create icons to match the visual along with humor.















Post War II and Mid Century Modernism

This period ushered in new arrivals such as television and jet ravel. Thus, advertising had to shift to conform to the new entries. The 50’s style included the use of bright colors while the International Typographic style was more orderly and rational.







The Sixties and Art of Rebellion

The art at this time borrowed from surrealism and pop art expressionism with post modernism sensibility. The floral aspect from Art Nouveu was brought back, unique juxtapositions of surrealism.



















The Seventies and Eighties – Post Modernism



This design led to production of posters that were complex, playful, and chaotic. The liberation of topography by Weingart surfaced the foundation of new styles such as Memphis and Retro, integrated in the computer graphics.





The Poster Today



With the changes in the society and the needs has influenced the appearance of posters over time. This era has seen the use of computer in creation of posters as a revolutionary way of communicating in the 21st century.





Conclusion

Since time in memorial, the use of posters has been important as it was employed for several reasons such as communicating information. For instance, the use of posters during the rule of Hitler and his rise into power was highly attributed to the use of posters designed by Ludwig to spread propaganda. The posters have evolved continuously and they are mainly designed as per the trending events, such as war, encouraging citizens to work hard especially women, urging men to turn up and protect the country. The use of posters proved to be handy in leadership as they were used to convince the citizens of Germany to feel like they victims of the Jews. Ludwig capitalized on his ability to create posters that could communicate to the citizens feeding them with propaganda propelling the favor towards reelection of Hitler. The posters to some extend were used to provoke other countries leading to wars such as World War I. depending on what kind of information is to be passed across, the posters can be used positively or negatively. For instance, posters used in bullfighting ceremonies in Spain. Such events were vital in encouraging oneness, improving and upholding of different cultural beliefs of the societies. Therefore, the use of posters will continue to evolve and it will continue to pass information to the public. It is upon the designers to know what to design and its impact to the society.

Images used courtesy of the internet under fair use policy







Bibliography

All-art.org. 2013. HISTORY OF POSTERS. April 30. Accessed Aril 30, 2017. http://www.all-art.org/history661_posters.html.

International Poster Gallery. 2017. Plakatstil: The Poster Style . April 30. Accessed April 30, 2017. http://www.internationalposter.com/style-primer/plakastil-posters.aspx.

Sedelmaier, J J. 2015. Ludwig Hohlwein, Master Designer. April 13. Accessed April 30, 2017. http://www.printmag.com/article/ludwig-hohlwein-master-designer/.