Small Poster for the Printing Company König & Ebhardt, Hanover, 1916

Emil Pirchan (1884–1957) studied architecture at the class of Otto Wagner (1841–1918) from 1903 to 1906 at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. He subsequently worked primarily as a commercial artist, and from 1919 was among the leading stage designers in the German-speaking world. By his own admission, the universally talented artist created more than 1,500 works of commercial art when he lived in Munich 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, he founded a private art school for advertising art in Munich. The present advertisement for the publishers J. C. König & Ebhardt in Hanover was created by Pirchan in 1916 in keeping with the propagandistic aims of the central powers: The coat of arms of the German Empire is flanked by two pillars draped with the flags of Germany and Austria-Hungary, and topped with the encouraging goddesses of victory, laurel wreaths held aloft in their raised hands.

IR, 2023