Artist · 38 prints
Ludwig Hohlwein Prints
About Ludwig Hohlwein
Ludwig Hohlwein (1874–1949) was a German poster designer, born in Wiesbaden. He trained as an architect at the Technical University in Munich and worked on interiors there around 1900, before turning to graphic design. He made his first posters in 1906 and soon became one of the most in-demand commercial artists in Germany, producing, by some counts, around 3,000 designs by the mid-1920s.
Ludwig Hohlwein's posters are built from bold, flat areas of colour, strong light and shadow, and sharply cut shapes, often with a textured pattern in the clothing or background. Sport and animals were favourite subjects. Clients ranged from the Munich zoo at Hellabrunn, the Deutsches Museum and the Paulaner brewery to opera houses and political groups, and he designed the poster for the 1910 Brussels World's Fair. His later career is darker: he joined the Nazi Party in 1933 and designed propaganda for the regime. He spent his last years in the Berchtesgaden area, where he died.
Ludwig Hohlwein prints: reproductions of the German advertising and travel posters Ludwig Hohlwein designed in Munich, most of them between 1907 and 1919. The collection includes Weltausstellung Brüssel 1910, Richard Strauss-Woche, München 1910, Zoologischer Garten München (Eagles) (1912), Starnberger See (1910) and Münchener Rennverein (1910).
This selection focuses on his early commercial work: tailors and sporting outfitters, cafés, breweries and food makers, the Munich zoo, horse racing and music festivals. The posters use flat areas of colour, strong light and shadow and patterned clothing, and many feature animals, riders and well-dressed figures. A later work, Gemsen im Schnee (1925), is a picture of chamois in snow rather than an advertisement.
The warm colours and confident shapes suit kitchens, dining rooms, bars and home offices; the larger animal and sporting posters work above a sideboard or sofa. All prints are museum-quality reproductions, available unframed or framed with acrylic glazing, with free shipping and import duties covered.
