German Expressionist ‘Werbedienst’ Posters: 1918–1919

Max Pechstein (German, 1881–1955)
Do Not Strangle the Newborn Freedom with Disorder and Fratricide,
If You Do Your Children Will Starve, 1918
Publisher: Werbedienst der deutschen sozialistischen Republik
(Advertising Service of the German Socialist Republic), Berlin (no. 44)
Lithograph, 39 1/4 x 26 5/8” (99.6 x 67.7 cm)
Early reference: Adolf Behne, Paul Landau, et al, Das politische Plakat
(Berlin: Verlag “Das Plakat,” 1919), repr. Plate 9.

For a brief period after the First World War, German Expressionism was officially tested for its effectiveness visual language capable of capturing the attention of the masses and of signaling the arrival of a new era. Between December 1918 and February 1919, the Werbedienst (publicity office) of Germany’s provisional government commissioned Novembergruppe (November Group) artists Heinz Fuchs, César Klein, and Max Pechstein, among others, to design posters for mass distribution. Somewhat incongruously, these visually frenetic posters aimed to quell civil unrest and promote public order, work, and productivity with slogans such as “Strike Destroys, Work Nourishes” and “He Who Does Not Work is the Gravedigger of His Children.”

All four posters presented here were reproduced in color in the book Das politische Plakat (Berlin: Verlag “Das Plakat,” April 1919) and discussed in Adolf Behne’s accompanying essay, “Alte und neue Plakate” (Old and New Posters). “Socialist propaganda posters constitute a new chapter in the history of the poster,” wrote Behne. “They fill a completely new role. They don't promote a firm, but an idea.”

This short-lived experiment was deemed a failure. Behne nonetheless retained the conviction that “The new art and the masses must finally come together” and thereafter placed his faith in Dada and Constructivism. 

Heinz Fuchs (German, 1886–1961)
Worker: Famine and Death Approach. Strike Destroys,
Work Nourishes. Do Your Duty: Work, 1919
Publisher: Werbedienst der deutschen sozialistischen Republik
(Advertising Service of the German Socialist Republic), Berlin (no. 60)
Lithograph, 29 3/16 x 40 9/16” (74.1 x 103 cm)
Early reference: Adolf Behne, Paul Landau, et al, Das politische Plakat
(Berlin: Verlag “Das Plakat,” 1919), repr. Plate 5.

Heinz Fuchs (German, 1886–1961)
Do You Want Enough to Eat? Without Coal, No Foodstuffs.
Work brings Bread. Agriculture and Mining Call You, 1918–1919
Publisher: Werbedienst der deutschen sozialistischen Republik
(Advertising Service of the German Republic), Berlin (no. 63)
Lithograph, 37 1/8 x 30” (94.2 x 76.2 cm)
Early reference: Adolf Behne, Paul Landau, et al, Das politische Plakat
(Berlin: Verlag “Das Plakat,” 1919), repr. Plate 4.

César Klein (German, 1876–1954)
He Who Does Not Work is the Gravedigger of His Children, 1919
Publisher: Werbedienst der deutschen sozialistischen Republik
(Advertising Service of the German Socialist Republic), Berlin (no. 58)
Lithograph, 41 1/8 x 34 1/4” (104.4 x 86.9 cm)
Early reference: Adolf Behne, Paul Landau, et al, Das politische Plakat
(Berlin: Verlag “Das Plakat,” 1919), repr. Plate 11.

November 28, 2023