Achte Kriegsanleihe [Eighth War Loan]

German First World War poster asking people to subscribe to the Eighth War Loan to hasten peace. The poster is printed in 'Fraktur' script, which is the old Germanic alphabet. German poster design during the First World War was intended to be simple, graphic and visually arresting. In German posters, words and images were integrated and the essense of communication conveyed through powerful shapes and patterns. They often also extolled an overt nationalism, with the preference of the authorities being for wordy slogans which encouraged people to contribute to the war economy. Lucian Bernhard (1883– 1972) was a German graphic designer, type designer, professor, interior designer, and artist. He was born in Stuttgart as Emil Kahn to a Jewish family, but changed in 1905 to his more commonly known pseudonym. He was influential in helping create the design style known as Plakatstil (Poster Style), which used reductive imagery and flat-color as well as Sachplakat ('object poster') which restricted the image to simply the object being advertised and the brand name. Although he studied briefly at the Akademie in Munich, he was largely self-taught. He moved to Berlin in 1901 where he worked as a poster designer and art director for magazines. In 1920 he became a professor at the Akademie der Künste until 1923, when he emigrated to New York City. In 1928 he opened the Contempora Studio with Rockwell Kent, Paul Poiret, Bruno Paul, and Erich Mendelsohn where he worked as a graphic artist and interior designer. After 1930 he worked primarily as a painter and sculptor until his death in 1972.