Lot 96: POSTER: ALFRED MOHRBUTTER (1867-1916). KUNST-

ALFRED MOHRBUTTER (1867-1916) KUNST-AUSSTELLUNG / CREFELD. 1897.
23 3/8x17 1/4 inches, 59x44 cm.
Condition A: creases at upper left edge. Paper.
Like many other German cities, Krefeld decided to open itself to culture through the founding of a museum in the 1890s. The first museum director, Friedrich Deneker, had very good contacts with important artists, including Peter Behrens, Herman Muthesius and Henri van de Velde. He instituted an ambitious exhibition schedule, and brought to the museum many influential shows and paintings, exposing the local populace to quintessential works and art movements. Mohrbutter was primarily a painter, but is credited with having designed a few posters. This image is one of the earliest, if not the first, poster for the Museum that opened in 1897. Mohrbutter takes a very Jugendstil approach and depicts an attractive young artist in broad, flat colors against a background of ceramics and suggested trees. Unexplainably, the name of the city here is spelled with a "C" rather than a "K." DFP-III 2227, Wember 588.