Poster for “Pirchan’s Munich Poster School“, 1914

By his own admission, Emil Pirchan (1884–1957) created more than 1,500 graphic works in the time between 1908 and 1918, including some 50 posters, numerous logos, bookplates, poster stamps, designs for packaging, technical illustrations for user manuals, calendar sheets, invitation cards, book illustrations, templates for flyleaves, coloring books for children as well as playing cards. In 1913, the industrious artist founded a private art school for advertising art at Elisabethstraße 15 in Munich. It was not for long that he was able to impart his technical knowledge, however, as he had to close the school when he was drafted for war service in 1915. This advertising poster is a negative image of this motif; some copies of the positive version, which shows the obelisk, the writing and the framing in dark blue on white, have also survived.

IR, 2021