127 / 254
HERMANN EIDENBENZ (1902-1993)
158
BATA. 1948.
50x35
1
/
2
inches, 127x90
1
/
4
cm. Art Institut Grafica, Basel.
Condition A-: tear at left edge; minor creases and abrasions at edges. Paper.
Born in India, Eidenbenz spent his formative years as an apprentice with the printer and publisher
Orell Füssli in Zürich, and studied under Ernst Keller at the Kunstgewerbeschule. After teaching in
Germany for six years, in 1932 he settled in Basel where he opened a studio with his brothers Willi
and Reinhold, both skilled photographers. One of the pioneering Swiss designers to apply photography
and sans-serif typography in advertising, he produced some of the finest works of graphic Modernism
through his book, typeface, exhibition, and poster designs. Eidenbenz believed that “style was not a
matter of appearance, it was a means chosen to communicate an idea” (Swiss Graphic design p. 123).
He designed a number of posters for this shoe company. Bata had an extensive poster advertising
campaign and worked with many of the best Swiss designers, including Donald Brün and Herbert
Leupin. Realismes 74, Magic of Things 42, Swiss Graphic Design p. 67.
[500/750]
VIKTOR RUTZ (1913-2008)
159
●
FRIGOR CHOCOLAT. 1946.
49
1
/
4
x35 inches, 125x89 cm.
Condition B+ / A-: scuffing at edges and sides of image; horizontal folds. Framed.
Rutz studied in Zürich and began his career as a fashion illustrator. Throughout the mid-1940s he
designed over 200 posters; thereafter, he focused almost entirely on painting. He brings his elegant
sense of fashion to this design, in which a hand within a haute couture glove points at a bar of
chocolate, ascribing to the product a high-end appearance and an elevated status. Realismes 67,
Chocolat p. 122.
[800/1,200]
158
159