Peter Behrens

35 7/8x24 7/8 inches, 91x63 cm. A. Molling & Comp., Hanover. Behrens was a key figure in the birth of German graphic design as a member of the Munich Secession and founder of the Darmstadt Kunstler Kolonie (1901). He was also a driving force in the founding of the Werkbund where industry and design came together. Behrens did work for Rathenau, the chairman of A.E.G., creating a complete graphic line for the company. The Werkbund exhibition in Cologne in 1914 was the showcase of what would become a worldwide example in industrial design. Behrens's allegorical poster features a classical rendition of a man on horseback carrying a torch. Although a tenuous analogy can be made about the winds of change blowing the flame carried by the figure in the poster, the style of the image belied the modern, progressive nature of the event and the poster was widely criticized. It was replaced by a strictly typographic poster by Ehmcke, making this an extremely rare and important poster. DFP III 95.

The Kiss. 1898. Coloured woodcut on Japan. 27,4 x 21,5cm (50,6 x 32,4cm). Monogrammed in the scrolls. C.R.Söhn, HDO (Bd.5), No. 52902-6. With drystamp, depicting a stylized head of the forest-god Pan and AN . Special edition of the woodcut which was published in the magazine Pan , volume IV., no. 2. - Sheet impressed in all four margin areas. Soiled in the upper margin area. Creases.

The Kiss. 1898. Coloured woodcut on Japan. 27,4 x 21,5cm (50,6 x 32,4cm). Monogrammed in the scrolls. C.R.Söhn, HDO (Bd.5), No. 52902-6. With drystamp, depicting a stylized head of the forest-god Pan and AN . Special edition of the woodcut which was published in the magazine Pan , volume IV., no. 2. - Sheet impressed in all four margin areas. Soiled in the upper margin area. Creases.