This poster, executed as a color lithograph, is based on a design by the painter, graphic artist and designer Bertold Löffler (1874–1960). It was created for a ground-breaking event of Viennese Modernism, the exhibition known as the
Kunstschau. The exhibition, conceived as a Gesamtkunstwerk, or universal work of art, was held in 1908 in pavilions planned by Josef Hoffmann (1870–1956) specifically for this purpose on the grounds occupied today by the Vienna Konzerthaus. Young artists, including Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980) and Rudolf Kalvach (1883–1932), contributed Expressionist-looking posters in vertical formats, such as the
Poster for the exhibition 1908 Kunstschau, while Löffler, who was both artists’ teacher at the School of Arts and Crafts, designed a horizontal poster that was still committed to Jugendstil. On two horizontal bands, Löffler provided this information as to what was shown where and when. The actual pictorial space is dominated by a female figure with long, undulating blonde hair rendered in profile. While she is wearing a white-yellow wreath of flowers in her hair, the blue of her eyes matches her blue dress, which is sparsely decorated with four white crosses.
MR, 2021
