Commercial Art

This area of the collection includes printed matter made for a specific purpose and publicly distributed in duplicated form. Examples are above all printed matter that, with its focussed and frequently artistic visual design, serves to convey information or advertising in the domains of politics, business or culture. Posters constitute the single largest group of items.

Cut-out sheets

Paper Sheets for Model Making, Propaganda and Education

Cut-out sheet for Russian lessons, East Berlin
Cut-out sheets

Paper Sheets for Model Making, Propaganda and Education

The “Cut-Out Sheets” collection includes printed sheets of paper, card or foil used for the design of wall newspapers, albums or to make models. The range extends from agitation and visualization materials from the field of political propaganda and model-building sheets for different age groups to items of historical and political importance.

Cut-out sheets in the object database

Contact
Research staff
Bonn
Dr. Christian Peters
Posters

Commercial Graphics for Public Spaces

Poster: 'Deutsche gegen Deutsche? Nein!", SPD, ca. 1957
Posters

Commercial Graphics for Public Spaces

Posters are as a rule produced for the public space and in larger print runs. Posters hinge on the copy, image and colour design attracting attention, appealing to the eye, being readily legible and memorable. The collection also includes decorative posters and placards. We understand “posters” in the broadest sense to cover all manner of posters in terms of copy and themes.

Posters in the object database

Contact
Research staff
Bonn
Dr. Christian Peters
Display Panel Exhibition

Poster Panels for Exhibitions

Display Panel Exhibition: 'Kampftraditionen der Deutschen Volkspolizei', 1961-1976
Display Panel Exhibition: Frauen arbeiten für den Sozialismus', 1970s
Display Panel Exhibition

Poster Panels for Exhibitions

The collection includes display panels or series of panels designed for informative, educational or training purposes and presenting an historical-political theme, an organization, institution or outstanding artist. As a rule, panel exhibitions and the related explanatory remarks are issued in special portfolios. The collection also covers individually created panels and series of panels.

Display Panel Exhibitions in the object database

Contact
Research staff
Bonn
Dr. Christian Peters
Wall newspapers

Placards Bearing lots of Copy and Information

Wall newspaper 'Schrankkontrolle und Stubenreinigung', NVA 1964
Wall newspapers

Placards Bearing lots of Copy and Information

Wall newspapers are communiques bearing political, propagandistic or cultural content displayed in the public domain, usually handmade, printed or duplicated as copies. Unlike posters with a specific theme, a wall newspaper is not a “visual telegram”, but a medium heavy on information in which the explanatory text is often in the foreground compared to the illustration.

Wall newspapers in the object database

Contact
Research staff
Bonn
Dr. Christian Peters
Drafts

Sketches and Templates

Draft: 'Digedag', Hannes Hegen, 1955
Drafts

Sketches and Templates

Drafts are one-offs in a variety of techniques, for example coloured or non-coloured pencil or ink drawings intended as proposals for duplicated end products. Drafts can exist in several versions. We collect drafts that were realized and those that were not. The collection also includes draft drawings for illustrated stories, such as the extensive holdings of drawings by Johannes Hegenbarth, creator of the legendary Communist East German comic magazine “Mosaik”.

Drafts in the object database

Contact
Research staff
Bonn
Dr. Christian Peters