Plakate der Avantgarde

Poster for a Munich exhibition from the collection of Jan Tschichold, 1930. 

Letterpress
 

This poster advertises an exhibition of avant-garde posters from Tschichold's personal collection, signaling his association with an international constellation of designers. The group's identity was established through a strategic use of revolutionary red and a lowercase, "universal" typeface that could not be linked with individual artistic styles or national traditions such as the German black-letter Gothic.

The simplest of elements—black, red, vertically and horizontally placed text, asymmetry, and balance—are combined in a rational abstract composition that enhances the communicative function of the poster.