Page 140 - Swann Galleries - Modernist Posters - Sale 2314 - May 13, 2013

ERIK NITSCHE (1908-1998)
168 ● GENERAL DYNAMICS / HYDRODYNAMICS. 1955.
50x35 1/2 inches, 127x901 /4 cm. R. Marsens, Lausanne.
Condition B+: repaired tear through bottom edge into image; abrasions and restoration at edges; repaired
pin holes in corners.
Born in Switzerland, Nitsche worked in Germany and Paris before moving to the United States in
1934. One of many young European immigrants who changed the face of American graphic design,
he is best remembered for his series of 29 posters for General Dynamics, where he served as Art
Director between 1955 and 1960. These images represent the most impressive corporate identity of
its era. His first series of 9 posters, Atoms for Peace, were designed for the Atomic Energy Conference
in Geneva in 1955. Perhaps the most famous image in the series, this depicts the USS Nautilus, one
of the country’s first nuclear powered submarines. This is the French version. Dynamic America p. 349
(var), Enyclopedie de l’Affiche p. 104, MoMA 221.1956. [1,200/1,800]
ERIK NITSCHE (1908-1998)
169 ● GENERAL DYNAMICS / RADIATION DYNAMICS. 1955.
50x35 inches, 127x89 cm. R. Marsens, Lausanne.
Condition A-: minor abrasions and restoration at edges; repaired pin holes in corners.
Although the images in this series appear in almost a dozen different languages, the significance is not
that each image was printed in multiple languages, but that each individual image was issued in a
different language. This is the Arabic version. [800/1,200]
168