Poster “Read”, 1900

Koloman Moser (1868–1918) was also highly successful in the field of graphic art. Outside his work for the journal Ver Sacrum, published by the Vienna Secession, in which his graphic art was featured on a regular basis, Moser also did numerous designs for exhibition posters, like the one for the first exhibition of the Secession of 1897, which, however, was only used for the fifth Poster Design for Ver Sacrum, the First Major Art Exhibition of the Secession. While, before 1900, it was mostly compositions with long curving lines and abstracted natural shapes that were in the foreground, Moser’s later posters are characterized by simplicity of form and geometric ornamentation. Prevalent design elements, apart from squares and rectangles, also are circles and lozenges, in which lettering and figures are embedded.

MTh, 2021