Poster Collection

In 1973, the poster collection of the Landesgewerbeamt (Baden-Württemberg Office for the Promotion of Trade and Industry) - the result of nearly one hundred years of collecting activities - was transferred to the Department of Prints, Drawings and Photographs of the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.

The collection is structured according to merchandise types and branches of industry. In the decades since its acquisition, it has been thoroughly researched with the aim of determining the authors - more specifically, the artists and designers - to allow its integration and utilization within a graphic arts collection oriented towards art-historical categories. The collection now focusses on artists and art exhibition posters.

A large number of posters of historical significance have been published in the standard work on the history of the poster medium: Das frühe Plakat in Europa und den USA, vol. 3: Deutschland, published in Berlin in 1980. The posters in our collection are in constant high demand for exhibitions and publications in Germany and abroad.

A partial catalogue edited by Christian Schneegass, listing 433 posters by the famous »Poster King of Munich«, Ludwig Hohlwein, was published in 1985. [ UG ]