Otto BAUMBERGER
(1889 – 1961)
Otto Baumberger is one of the most important graphic designers in Switzerland and is often considered the "spiritual father" of the Swiss poster.
After an apprenticeship as a lithographer with Emil Winter in Zurich, he studied from 1905 to 1907 at the Kunstgewerbeschule (now part of the Zurich University of the Arts). He then went on to complete his training in Munich, Paris and London.
Back in Zurich, he worked as a lithographer and art director in the studio of the famous printer J.E. Wolfensberger from 1911 to 1913, where he created his first poster in 1911.
For more than 40 years, he produced about 250 posters for the tourism, culture, politics and advertising industries.
Baumberger's creative activities were not limited to graphic design, he was also a painter, a scenographer and an art teacher.
In its diversity, Otto Baumberger's work embodies the history of the Swiss poster in the first half of the 20th century. In his posters, he seeks the most appropriate solutions to convey the message to the public.
His tourist posters for Switzerland's major cities depict a luminous environment where nature is at one with man, which does not disturb the tranquillity of the moment captured by the artist. The cities are set back to show the viewer the beauty of a lake and a mountain in the background.
Baumberger is also one of the precursors of the Sachplakat (object posters); his PKZ coat (circa 1923) being one of the icons of this graphic movement; of the typographic poster and of the International Swiss Style (Brak liqueur (1937), Neue Zürcher Zeitung (1928)).
Zürich, Restaurant St-Gotthard
1913
CHF 2930.–
Zürich, Specks Cinema, Haus du Pont
1913
CHF 2420.–
Zürich, Restaurant Du Pont
1913
CHF 2420.–
Festvorstellung Oresteia, Max Reinhardt, Deutsches Theater Berlin, Zürich
1916
CHF 2460.–
Senft Wohnung, Einrichtungen, Basel
1916
CHF 2650.–
Lichtspiele speck's Palast, Untersee expedition
1916
CHF 2370.–
Medea, Hofburgtheater Wien
1917
CHF 1880.–
Gastspiel Professor Arthur Nikisch, 1917
1917
CHF 1830.–
Baumann Kölliker & Co., Zürich
1917
CHF 2600.–
Hotel St-Gotthard, Zürich
1917
CHF 1240.–
Swan
1919
CHF 3200.–
PKZ Qualité
1921
CHF 2500.–
Maler, Bildhauer und Architekten, Ausstellung Gesellschaft Schweiz
1921
CHF 1280.–
Strauliseifen, Winterthur
1923
CHF 1040.–
Dosenbach, Grosser Schuhmarkt
circa 1923
CHF 1360.–
South
circa 1924
CHF 4450.–
Sträuli Seifen, Winterthur
1925
CHF 2640.–
Haarnetz mit der Spinne
circa 1925
CHF 480.–
Balair, Benützet den Luftweg, Luftverkehrs Union
1928
CHF 1650.–
Baumann, Fraumünsterstr. 17
1928
CHF 2600.–
40 Jahre Seiden-Grieder
1929
CHF 2190.–
Svizzera, La Linea elettrica del Sempione
1933
CHF 1570.–
Blausee, Loetschberg Bahn Railway, Berner Oberland
1934
CHF 2260.–
The Electric St-Gotthard Line, Switzerland
1935
CHF 1960.–
Les plus belles vacances, en Suisse à forfait
circa 1936
CHF 940.–
Chrysanthemen im Kunsthaus
1937
CHF 1380.–
Pro Aero, Fördert die Nationale LuftFahrt !
1938
CHF 1190.–
Switzerland, all electric trains everywhere
1940
CHF 1620.–
Glarnerland Walensee
1943
CHF 1570.–
Dahlien Schau
1946
CHF 1280.–
Sur le Bodan
1948
CHF 90.–
Vertraut dem Landesring, Mensch sein...
1959
CHF 570.–
IV Internationales Flugmeeting Zürich 1937, REPRODUCTION
circa 1980
CHF 370.–