Armin Hofmann (1920- ). WILHELM TELL / BASLER FREILICHTSPIELE. 1963. 50½x35½ inches, 128¼x90 cm. Wassermann, [Basel.]

Lot description

ARMIN HOFMANN (1920- ) WILHELM TELL / BASLER FREILICHTSPIELE. 1963. 50 1/2x35 1/2 inches, 128 1/4x90 cm. Wassermann, [Basel.] Condition A / A-: minor creases at edges and in image; minor abrasions at edges; hinge remnants on verso. Paper. Steven Heller, writing in the catalogue of the artist's work for the Zürich Museum, states that Hofmann's posters "collectively epitomize mid-century modernism . . . [in his poster for] William Tell, he used the typically sonorous economy of his resources to show what a fundamental change applied art was undergoing. The Tell play is firmly established in popular Swiss culture . . . Hofmann takes up the indispensable symbols of the Tell legend, the apple and the arrow, but uses typeface and image to condense them into a symbolic abstraction of an elegance unparalleled for this subject matter." Hofmann p. 65, Muller-Brockmann 113, The Poster p. 333, Modern Poster 229, Swiss Poster Art 63.2, Margadant 118, Encyclopedie de l'Affiche p. 242, MoMA 618.1981.