Progressive German Graphics: 1900-1937

by Leslie Cabarga

Progressive German Graphics explores the aesthetic, historical, and social influences of the period between the two world wars as manifested in the German, as well as Austrian, graphic design of the day. Highly conceptual and geometric, this style has had a significant impact on modern design.
This volume includes an array of posters, packaging, trademarks, letterheads, and advertising ephemera that exemplify this distinctive genre. At first glance, the most striking qualities of German graphics are their weight and severity. But behind the stern geometry are layers of complexity that belie a larger the Bauhaus and Constructivist movements, the Gothic Style, and Art Deco, as well as such historical influences as World War I, the Weimar Republic, and the 1936 Olympics.
Progressive German Graphics highlights numerous designs, many of which have never been published before in the United States. These artifacts reveal the development of German and Austrian graphic arts through the years of relatively free, creative expression, while the rest of the world still looked on in admiration.

132 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1994

About the author

Zavier Leslie Cabarga, popularly known as Leslie Cabarga, is an American author, illustrator, cartoonist, animator, font designer, and publication designer. A participant in the underground comix movement in the early 1970s, he has since gone on to write and/or edit over 40 books. His art style evokes images from the 1920s and 1930s, and over the years Cabarga has created many products associated with Betty Boop. His book The Fleischer Story in the Golden Age of Animation, originally published in 1976, has become the authoritative history of the Fleischer Studios.