LUDWIG HOHLWEIN

Ludwig Hohlwein was a German artist from the 1890s to the 1940s. He is one of the best known German poster artists (though his reputation suffered because of his work with the Nazis)! Initially an architect student who illustrated for newspapers, he went on to design book decorations, booklets, and advertising posters. He joined the Nazi Regime in 1933 after refusing an offer to emigrate to the United States, and created government program posters as well as advertisements for the 1936 Munich Olympics. Poster historian Alain Weill says "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 color and a play of light and shade that brings them out of their background and gives them substance". He passed away in 1949 at the age of 75.