Poster for the 1st Exhibition of the Neue Vereinigung at the Vienna Konzerthaus, 1919

Egge Sturm-Skrla (1894–1943), who was active as a painter and lithographer, was a founding member of the artists’ group Neue Vereinigung around 1919 alongside Viktor Tischler (1890–1951). This association of young artists merged into the Hagenbund soon after its foundation. The short-lived group, which did not have their own exhibition venue, held their first presentation at the Vienna Konzerthaus, for which Sturm-Skrla designed the exhibition poster. Much in keeping with an Expressionist style, the elliptically arranged characters are split up into jagged, geometrical, expressively colored forms. Sturm-Skrla’s poster, which, according to the art critic Arthur Roessler (1877–1955) “screams onto the street”, was singled out by the critic as one of the most radical works presented in the exhibition.

MN, 2024