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The Graphic Arts Collection of the Zurich Central Library and the Museum für Gestaltung are showing illustrations by Otto Baumberger.
There was no ADC back then. It was only founded in Switzerland in 1976. But even in the era of Art Nouveau, someone would certainly have become a member: Otto Baumberger (1889-1961) was one of the leading illustrators and is regarded as Switzerland's first commercial artist. In any case, he was one of the first Swiss to be given the professional title of "poster designer", according to the exhibition organizers at the Zurich Museum of Design. Since the beginning of October and until the end of January, the museum has been presenting an exhibition of Otto Baumberger's graphics and illustrations in the poster room. At the same time, Baumberger's book illustrations and works on paper can be seen in a retrospective in the treasury of the Central Library at Predigerplatz 33 in Zurich.
The physical distance makes sense. Baumberger's fate was that he never actually wanted to do advertising as a designer. His wish to be honored as an artist was only fulfilled today with this retrospective show.
However, he should still be a source of pride in the Museum für Gestaltung show today. Baumberger designed over 200 posters, with which he promoted the renewal of the still young medium. "Without defining an actual style, he searched for the most appropriate solution for conveying a message," says the text accompanying the exhibition. His original pictorial inventions led to a reduction that went as far as abstraction, whereby pictorial and written elements "entered into an increasingly concise synthesis". In this sense, the diversity of Baumberger's work is almost exemplary of Swiss poster history in the first half of the 20th century.
As a self-taught artist, Baumberger was ahead of his time in recognizing key aspects of consumer goods advertising. The exhibition shows how his work shaped the development from painterly artist posters to graphically influenced corporate design.
Otto Baumberger trained in Zurich and Munich. He was initially a designer and later artistic director of the Wolfensberger Lithographic Institute in Zurich. There he designed posters, logos and stamps. He was responsible for entire advertising campaigns for the companies Grieder and PKZ. He also worked as picture editor at Nebelspalter and was able to repair his somewhat "left-wing" reputation with a monumental patriotic mural for the 1939 national exhibition. After the war, Baumberger was appointed associate professor at the ETH architecture department for the new subject "Relationship of color to building and space".
The current exhibitions are partly based on the estate donated to the Zentralbibiliothek by his son Rudolf Baumberger.
Andreas Panzeri
The physical distance makes sense. Baumberger's fate was that he never actually wanted to do advertising as a designer. His wish to be honored as an artist was only fulfilled today with this retrospective show.
However, he should still be a source of pride in the Museum für Gestaltung show today. Baumberger designed over 200 posters, with which he promoted the renewal of the still young medium. "Without defining an actual style, he searched for the most appropriate solution for conveying a message," says the text accompanying the exhibition. His original pictorial inventions led to a reduction that went as far as abstraction, whereby pictorial and written elements "entered into an increasingly concise synthesis". In this sense, the diversity of Baumberger's work is almost exemplary of Swiss poster history in the first half of the 20th century.
As a self-taught artist, Baumberger was ahead of his time in recognizing key aspects of consumer goods advertising. The exhibition shows how his work shaped the development from painterly artist posters to graphically influenced corporate design.
Otto Baumberger trained in Zurich and Munich. He was initially a designer and later artistic director of the Wolfensberger Lithographic Institute in Zurich. There he designed posters, logos and stamps. He was responsible for entire advertising campaigns for the companies Grieder and PKZ. He also worked as picture editor at Nebelspalter and was able to repair his somewhat "left-wing" reputation with a monumental patriotic mural for the 1939 national exhibition. After the war, Baumberger was appointed associate professor at the ETH architecture department for the new subject "Relationship of color to building and space".
The current exhibitions are partly based on the estate donated to the Zentralbibiliothek by his son Rudolf Baumberger.
Andreas Panzeri
