Spaces that mean the world

Volker Pfüller, born in 1939 in Leipzig, is one of the best-known poster designers, at first in East Germany, and then later in the entire Federal Republic. Especially his works for the theatre are pioneering. Pfüller deliberately placed himself in the tradition of historic star posters as represented especially by Jo Steiner (1877-1935), and made classical lithographs of stone or board. The focus of his posters is generally the main figure of a piece, whose character he permeates pictorially in order to present him – via the poster – to the public. This exhibition by the German Poster Museum shows works that have been made for theatres throughout Germany since the 1970s, including those in Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart and Hamburg.

Frieder Grindler (*1941) has been creating sensations with his theatre posters since the 1960s. His subtle and perfect photo montages pushed at the limits of the genre and played with montage techniques that would only become the norm with the introduction of computer added designs. His poster montages showed, with differentiation and perfection, the full potential of classical photomontage; His posters do not, however, aim at visual effect, which is only a means to an end. They point on the one hand to the theatre piece itself and on the other often have hidden references that can only be deciphered by those who have seen the piece. It is this effect that is especially appealing for the theatre. The exhibition shows exemplary works from the last forty years.

With the exhibition two monograph catalogues are being published by Edition Folkwang / Steidl (each 16 Euro at Museum Folkwang).