Ernst Neumann's “New Values of Visual Art”: Design Theory and Practice in Germany at the Turn-of-the-Century

Abstract

An exhibition entitled “Ernst Neumann and His School” held in 1910 in the library of the Royal School of Applied Art in Berlin provided an opportunity for reflection about Neumann’s contributions to German art’s development since the turn-of-the-century.1 Paul Westheim praised him as a leader of artistic printmaking, known for his experimentation and innovative teaching, and also as the creator of distinctive posters, such as his large advertisement (figure 1) for an appearance of the dancer Sarharet in 1903 at the Wintergarten in Berlin.2 Neumann was among the first German artists to apply his talents to commercial graphics, continuing the spirit of the great French poster art of the 1890s. Westheim suggested, however, that this inventive spirit actually restricted his success, for Neumann refused to follow the two trends that were coming to dominate German advertising —the “object poster” of Lucian Bernhard and the “prestige poster” of Ludwig Hohlwein.3