Herbert Leupin: Plakate, Bilder, Graphiken

Since the early 1940s, Herbert Leupin has had a greater influence on the world-famous Swiss poster art than anyone else. (Or, so reads the back of the dustjacket.) Wherever the trendy rabbits wanted to go with their ultimate advertising theories and fashionable concepts, Leupin was there long before, almost like the hedgehog in the fairy tale. (We weren’t expecting those animal references!) He is probably the most creative and inventive Swiss advertising artist of the 20th century. (Brag much?) Like no other, he understood the art of astonishing, succinct implementation: from word to image, from image to metaphor, from metaphor to statement.

Anyway, this is book about Herbert Leupin’s life work: a comprehensive documentation of his work, from the first Schützenfest poster to the most recent dreamy circus clown. (Don’t be scared of the clowns.) This path was almost a thousand posters long. They are recorded in this richly illustrated monograph: the early, naturalistic Steinfels and tourism posters; then the great works of the war and post-war period; finally the concepts that confidently anticipated many modern ideas about brand images and corporate identity: for example the colorful Pepita parrot, the red hand of Roth-Händle, the purple cow of Suchard-Milka. A tremendous resource about an impressive body of work.