56 Eidgenössisches Turnfest in Basel
Artist
Eduard Renggli
1863 - 1921
Printer
Anst W. Wassermann, Basel
Switzerland
Date1912
Dimensions39 x 27 1/2 in. (99.1 x 69.9 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LineGift of Peter A. Blatz
Object numberPH.279
DescriptionEduard Renggli trained in Lucerne, Switzerland as a decorative painter before studying drawing and fine art in Munich and Rome. Upon his return to Lucerne in 1906, he began teaching drawing at the Cantonal School and then at the School of Applied Arts there for decades; he continued to paint decorative murals during this time and produced numerous posters, diplomas, and bookplates. That same year, he designed a poster for the first exhibition of the Swiss Secession, one of many groups of avant-garde artists, mainly in Austria and Germany, that had rejected the formal conventions and hierarchies of the academy. They tended to produce experimental works that blurred the lines between the fine and the decorative arts, offering a radical vision of the modern world. This poster for the Federal Gymnastics Festival in Basel reflects the artistic language of the moment; fists raised as they march ahead in identical costumes, these gymnasts suggest unity and forward progress. And as a phalanx, they appear almost decorative.On View
Not on view
