otto baumberger he was one of the first Swiss graphic artists to have a career that answers to the occupational title of “poster designer”. However, his desire to be recognized as an artist was not fulfilled.
Although he viewed his own work as "commercial art" rather than "true art," Baumberger's poster work is considered unique.
And it is that his linear posters are still very recognizable and emphatically representative for the Theater of Zurich, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the cafes, the car shows, the international airshows of Zurich, for numerous companies and department stores such as carpets Forster, Jelmoli, PKZ, Seiden-Grieder, Fein-Kaller, and Baumann millinery.
Source: germannauktionen
After World War I, Europe and the United States they experienced a technological revolution and economic boom through advances in motor vehicles, ships, and airplanes. Faster and stronger modes of transportation changed the workforce and the tourism economy; workers enjoyed more free time, so companies were motivated to produce travel posters to promote their vacation destinations and means of transportation.
Thus, the poster artists of this era were influenced by cubism and futurism, and the sleek, strong, and bold design reflects the technological advances of the machine age.
In the early XNUMXth century, graphic design was still emerging as a professional field and lacked specialization, so clients set up poster contests to receive artwork submissions. Many of the early and influential poster designers got their start with these contests.
The Swiss company PKZ sponsored competitions from 1908 to the 1960s. And that's how designers like Ludwig Hohlwein and Otto Baumberger, who created eye-catching posters to advertise the men's clothing line.
Born in 1889, he began his career as an apprentice textile designer and employee in a lithographic workshop, where he learned all about this printing technology.
Initially, as an employee of wolfensberger AG en Zurich, acquired a deep knowledge of the lithographic technique.
There he designed more than two hundred posters, which helped modernize the environment.
In those years, the artist proved to be far ahead of his time by recognizing fundamental aspects of consumer goods advertising.
Although he did not create a real style, he always looked for the most suitable approach to convey the message in question.
His original graphic creations led to a reduction bordering on abstraction, in which graphic and textual elements underwent an increasingly powerful synthesis. Thus, in its variety, Baumberger's work embodies and exemplifies the history of Swiss poster art in the first half of the XNUMXth century, when the painter's poster artist gradually evolved towards a corporate design graphic orientation.
The period between 1915 and 1920 was especially productive, during which many of his most extraordinary posters were created: simple, ornamental, almost architectural designs.
Thus he became one of the first Swiss who can properly be described as a poster designer, as well as one of the most brilliant and daring key figures in Swiss poster design between 1910 and 1930.
His poster works include more than 200 designs, most of which he lithographed himself at the renowned print shop J. E. Wolfensberger
Baumberger also produced brilliant results for his resort commissions: his travel posters are practical yet highly quaint, yet exude a cozy atmosphere that puts even XNUMXst-century viewers in a vacation mood.
His work exemplifies the transition movement between designers who used artistic features, such as painting in their compositions, in relation to those who already worked with more abstract compositions, modern design.
He died in 1961.