Today’s Facebook Trump-for-president parody and a recent conversation with City Lights Bookstore‘s Eon Alden about his profile dawg, jostled up my shine for Plakatstil – Poster Style – a century-old style of commercial illustration with German origins.
The sachplakat – object poster – was singular for its minimalism and bold interplay of color and pattern, and would influence design for decades forward. I found my fondness for this type of minimalism in the eighties, in an embarrassing-but-brief infatuation the art of Patrick Nagle.
Lucian Bernhard was one of Plakatstil’s main names. Here are some samples of the style, followed by Eon’s dog, and a fine, fine candidate:
