Rote Kreuz-Sammlung (Red Cross calling)

German First World War Red Cross poster in a Modernist style featuring a central 3/4 portrait of a wounded soldier, his arm in a sling, standing in front of a large red cross. The title and message text are positioned at the bottom of the poster in black and ask for donations to benefit the voluntary Red Cross nurses who look after the wounded. Ludwig Hohlwein (1874-1949) was a German poster artist. He was trained and practiced as an architect until 1906, when he switched to poster design. Hohlwein's adaptations of photographic images was based on a deep and intuitive understanding of graphic principles. He was known for his creative use of color and architectural compositions. Hohlwein was the most prolific and brilliant German poster artists of the 20th century. His style would vary little for over forty years. His figures are full of touches of color and a play of light and shade that brings them out of their background and gives them substance. Hohlwein's most artistically important phase was before World War II in the years 1912-1925. A large variety of his best posters date to this period. He developed his own distinct style with sharply defined forms and bright colours. By 1925, he had designed 3000 different advertisements. The German Red Cross was instituted in 1864 as a voluntary civil assistance organization. During the Second World War in Germany the Nazi Party took control of the German Red Cross.