July 2007
Posters of the Avant Garde
The turn of the century was a revolution in perspective: from conceptions of space and time, down to the letters a scientist used to write about them. Europeans first became familiar with “the new typography” through commercial posters in the late 1920s. Here in Munich, artist Jan Tschichold left his innovative imprint on movie posters for the Phoebus Palast, then Germany’s largest movie theater. From June 21 to September 16, the Villa Stuck will showcase more than 200 of Tschichold’s posters in “The Modern Poster and the new Typography.” A selection of pieces from his personal collection by Moholy-Nagy (see page 3) and other peers will provide a rich representation of the diverse artistic influences surrounding Tschichold. Elements of Bauhaus, de Stijl, and Russian Constructivism suffuse all of the works, which somehow seem to be as avant garde today as they once were.
