
I can’t remember if it was when I was researching fellow Swiss designer, Donald Brun, or something I saw on the 365PosterBlog, but I came across the work of Niklaus Stoecklin (1896–1982).
His graphic design and advertising posters are bright and eye-catching. He brought interest to the everyday mundane – toothpaste, soap, eggs, household cleaners…
I love his studies of butterflies, moths, birds and other natural subjects. However, some of his other, more ‘artistic’, work is uncomfortable, uneasy, disturbing and bordering on the macabre. Perhaps it’s because he was affected by the 1st World War – when he was forced to flee Berlin where he was at art school, and return to Switzerland.
He was an exponent of the German, post-Expressionist Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement along with the likes of Otto Dix, Max Beckmann and others.
His work is in the permanent collections of MOMA, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Cooper Hewitt. His painting, Helmgasse, Basel, 1923 sold at Sotheby’s Zurich ‘Swiss Art’ sale in 2006, fetching $110,820 US. Examples of his vintage original posters are for sale anywhere from 500€ to 20,000€. A copy of his E Guete! frying eggs poster (bottom left) sold for $9,375 US at auction in 2014. Prints are more readily affordable from less than a tenner! Try art.co.uk and Etsy.
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Additional image credits:
Art.com | Artnet | International Poster | SIKART | Weimar Art